Lux Academy

It was hot in the cage.

Sweat pooled at Una's neck, pasting her short hair to her beige skin as she panted, trying to catch her breath. She'd managed to avoid the big strikes thus far, and had gotten in her fair share of blows herself, but now she was tiring, and she could see her opponent was too--a tall boy with pale skin, scars covering his face and arms, blonde hair. She'd vaguely seen him around, and knew the name he went by here was Xandri, but that was about as far as their relationship went. She also knew that she'd had fights with him on and off since she was thirteen, which meant he was desperate--because like her, he was about to outgrow the arena.

Xandri was panting too, but both Una and him had to know they couldn't do it for long. They were like dancers, even if they never got a rehearsal. It was unspoken, but it was clear to any kid who grew up in the rings: make it entertaining, or you don't make it.

Una rolled her neck and let out a puff of air, straightening up again and tightening her grip on her knuckle knives. She could hear the crowd on the other side of the metal links, shuffling and murmuring, but she tried not to look. She didn't like seeing the faces. Plus, the audience wasn't lit like they were, so it would've been difficult to see much of anything anyway. Well... Una and Xandri were as lit as they could be, given the state of things. One of the overhead lights had gone out months ago, and they'd never bothered to fix it--they being the nameless, faceless owner of the half-collapsed underground arena they were currently in.

There were dozens, sprinkled across Flenting, each owned by whatever Upper had decided they wanted to be in the business of gambling on children. As much as she hated the Uppers, she had to agree that they'd hit the jackpot on that one. With no formal schooling in the area and so many kids snatched daily, they had to learn to fight somewhere--even if it meant that sometimes, a snatcher was in the audience. Una knew as well as the next-- if you practiced magic in Flenting, you never walked home alone.

Across from her, the boy watched her warily, then moved forward suddenly. Una shifted, much to the audience's disappointment. They cheered though when his battleaxe slammed into the chain-link fencing surrounding them with a loud clang, sending a few sparks flying. She watched him clench his jaw and turn towards her again. Una didn't usually dodge like this--but she was hoping she could entice some audience members into placing a few last-minute bets. And it was hot... so hot. She should feel used to it, but the air tonight felt particularly stuffy, like it was choking her. Xandri's aura didn't help either--flickering with heat. The flames had died down several minutes ago, when Una had gotten in her last big hit, but the burning temperature of it was still radiating outwards, filling the space between them.

She watched as he shifted, calculating his next move. Someone in the crowd booed, and another person tried to chuck their drink at them, but it missed both of them, splattering in a puddle between them. Alright--she'd pushed long enough. It was time to move.

Una ran towards him, arcing her arms and stabbing with both knuckle knives, aiming for his legs. If his aura hadn't been there, he would've been impaled. As it was, the knives grazed across his clothes, slicing small lines through them. She glanced at him and knew things had changed. They could both feel it in the audience too, the humming, the leaning forward in their seats: the first blood had been drawn.

Xandri swung his axe in return, and this time, Una didn't have enough time to move away. Instead, she grit her teeth and forced her aura to meet the axe where it fell, concentrating it all in that singular spot in the air. Thorns sprouted across it, and the collision cut through them. They dissolved into a thick, black fog that wafted between the two of them, giving Una enough time to pull back. She knew where he was, and had more experience than many of the other children fighting in the dark due to her fog, but she also knew he had a battleaxe, and she wasn't in the mood to get beheaded. She also knew he was probably not in the mood to behead someone, so it seemed like it would be best to avoid that option for both of them.

Instead, she dropped as she moved forward, balancing on her fingers and toes in a low crouch before she firmly-- and as hard as she could--pulled one of her hands back and punched. Xandri groaned loudly, knees hitting the ground. His aura wasn't going to last much longer. He was getting close to needing to yield, unless he fancied dying in front of a crowd of drunk sadists.

Una pulled back, eyes scanning the fog rapidly. It would start to disappate any second now--she couldn't keep it around for more than a few minutes at most, and that was when she was fully energized. This was currently her last fight of the day, which meant she was absolutely not fully energized, and was fairly certain she'd pass out as soon as she got the chance. Come on, she thought as he emerged from the fog. Come on, yield.

Instead, he swung again. Despite her best efforts to concentrate it, Una felt her aura flicker, and let out a loud, "Shit!" as the axe sliced through her shirt and evenly across her stomach. She could feel her aura already working to patch it up, to heal it, but she stumbled a little in pain, grimacing and fighting the urge to double over.

Almost through. Almost through, come on, his aura is more weakened than yours, get through it.

She drew her arm away from her stomach, now slick with her own blood, and forced herself to straighten and dive for him again. Hollers rose from the crowd, and Una felt a bit nauseous, but ignored it as she slashed at his arms. Xandri's aura faded for a moment, and she watched him swoon a little as her blades cut into his skin. She could see his aura trying to patch the wounds, but they weren't working fast enough, and he was bleeding buckets.

"Yield," Una muttered, breathing heavily as she watched him. He glanced up at her, a scowl on his face, but didn't respond. "Yield!" Una said again, louder this time.

His battleaxe clattered to the floor. Una turned to the faceless crowd as the buzzer sounded, and the loudspeaker proclaimed, "Una the One! Victorious yet again, what a great show, ladies and gentlemen."

Una ignored the rest. The doors to the cage beeped and slid open, and Xandri and her both walked towards them--though Xandri was more stumbling than walking. As soon as they were in the hallway and out of view of the audience, Una grabbed him, shoving him against a wall.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?" he exclaimed.

Una grabbed one of his arms and pushed her aura against it. She knew it was foreign, and so his body might not accept it--but she felt his aura begin to pull on it, greedily and gulping, and watched as the skin on his arm stitched a thin layer over the deep cut she'd given him, stopping the bleeding. She yanked his other arm and began the process again.

He watched her, looking too exhausted to even be surprised. "Thanks," he mumbled.

As soon as she knew his blood wasn't about to flood the floor below them, Una kicked him in the leg-- hard. Xandri yelped. "Don't ever pull that shit again!" Una yelled. "Fucking dumbass, you're gonna get yourself killed! If you're bleeding out, yield!"

She was so furious, she could feel her entire body shaking. Xandri sneered at her in response.

"Why do you care?" he said, pushing himself off the wall so he could stand fully on his feet.

"Because then your blood is on MY hands," Una snapped, then said disgustedly, "your blood is literally on my hands right now."

She shook them, and splatters hit the wall. She pointed a finger at his face, then said, seething, "Don't pull that shit again. The child arenas frown on an open death like that because they wanna pull more fighters in. The adult rings don't give a shit."

She shoved his body back against the wall again lightly for good measure, then turned and stalked away before he could reply. "Dumbass," she muttered to herself. "Fucking dumbass."

She shouldn't care about him--not really. They'd barely spoken words over the years they'd known each other, but still. It was this feeling of We're in this together, whether we like it or not. It was the knowledge that even if he was the one she was physically fighting, they both had the same real enemy: the Uppers. The ones who funded the rings, who snatched children and drained them dry of their magic or kept them as slaves, the ones who gambled on the matches. It was the comradery of all the children who had died down here, far away from the sun and under the cover of darkness and metal.

Una barreled through the door to her locker room--which would normally have other girls in it, preparing for or recovering from other fights. This had been the last time slot for a fight though, and they'd only had one child cage running all day, so she was the only one. She grabbed a towel from the wall and wet it at the sink, beginning the gross process of washing off her own blood, as well as Xandri's. She couldn't even tell whose was whose.

And that was what it came down to, wasn't it? "Dumbass," she said again to herself for the third time. He knew better--or he should, anyway. He'd been doing it for five years. She continued to rant in her head angrily as she cleaned herself up. She'd earned herself a few dozen nicks and bruises from fights earlier in the day, so thankfully, the wound in her stomach was the only major thing her aura needed to focus on. Her older brother and sister, twins, would also be here soon, so they could all walk home together. They knew well enough to not go home alone in the dark, especially not near the rings.

Una glanced around the dirty locker room, sighing as she collapsed into one of the chairs and leaned her head back for a moment. The mold growing in the corners, and the dust in the air so thick you choked on it. The toilets, all stained with blood, and the towels, permanent shades of pink. She'd never be in here again.

She had never expected to go to a place like Lux Academy. It had always seemed so far away, and very Upper. She had no prior schooling. She did this all day every day, and had since she was thirteen. She hadn't had time for schooling, even if there had been a magic academy open in Flenting. And the circumstances--that now she was going to Lux Academy--were all so very strange. It hadn't sunk in yet, even though she was leaving tomorrow.

She hated this place. But still... it felt like she would miss it. Not for what it was, but for the feeling it gave--belonging. Competence. She wasn't going to feel those again for a long time. And besides, she didn't hate Flenting. She loved it. It was the people in charge she hated.

A knock sounded at the locker door, and she forced herself to stand, even as her body ached. Her aura was so tired, just like her mind and body. She probably hadn't made the wisest choice by helping to heal Xandri's wounds, but she'd been so angry at him, and she wasn't about to knowingly let someone die because of her--much less her very last opponent before she left.

She walked slowly over to the door. It would be her sister or brother, likely, there to say they were ready to walk home. She dried the sweat off the back of her neck with the towel before she tossed it on the floor, giving the room one more glance-over before she turned back to the door to leave it all behind. There was no time for sentimentality, or worries, or imposer syndrome, or anything other than doing what had to be done. She had so little time already. She couldn't waste it on trivial things like that.

The previous night had passed in a blur. After a long walk home in the dark with the twins--the both of them teasing constantly about how she was going to go hang out with the rich kids at Lux--the three of them had arrived at their crumbling house at three in the morning. Their father had fallen asleep on the couch waiting for them, and a stray rat had greeted them at the door--which Moran, Una's sister, had promptly killed. "Great," she'd muttered, kicking the corpse to the side and watching it slide across the floor. "The rats are back."

That was how Una felt the other students at Lux would view her--something dirty, to be exterminated as quickly and effortlessly as possible. The rats are back.

It was morning now--earlier than Una was usually up--and she was waiting with Moran for her train. Her brother, Kamau, had been booked for a private fight that morning--a bachelorette party, likely--and they needed the money, so he hadn't been able to turn it down. Una's father was at work, which meant it was just Moran and her, waiting in a train station neither of them had ever had the need to be in. It was cleaner in here, and the tiles were slick. It was confusing, in that way. Una felt so out of place already, and she hadn't even left Flenting, just the Heplan district.

"You're sure you want to do this?" Moran asked finally to break the silence. She stood taller than Una, and her hair was shorter. She watched everything through guarded, narrowed eyes, like every moment was a fight. She wasn't the sentimental type, and not the type to beat around the bush either.

"A little late for that now, don't you think?" Una mumbled, shifting her cloak uncomfortably. They'd managed to fit what they could inside the small bag they'd found in the back of the closet, but she was still wearing multiple layers of clothing to get all the required materials there.

"I'm serious," Moran said, glancing at Una. Una dutifully acted like she didn't see it.

"I'm serious too," Una said. "It's not like I want to go to a place full of the people who pay to watch us kill each other, but I'd like the chance to get the job that follows, and the money that comes with it."

Moran scrunched her nose. "We make enough to get by."

"I want to do more than get by," Una snapped, then sighed. "I want to actually make a difference," she said finally. "I wanna come back and tear this place to the ground."

Moran glanced up at the train station, the walls made of marble and the clean, tiled floor. "Kamau should've been here," she said, clearly dissatisfied.

"It's fine," Una said. "The ring is more important."

Moran frowned. "The ring was never supposed to be more important than family."

Una shook her head. "I'm really fine with it. We said goodbye last night."

She looked down the platform, tapping her foot as she waited impatiently for the train to come.

"Do you have enough money?" Moran asked.

"I won't need money," Una said, then turned back to her sister. "Did you know they give us food for free?"

Moran blinked, baffled. "For free?"

"Three meals a day," Una said, looking back at the tracks. "Can't imagine what else I'd even need money for, they provide the rooms and running water."

Moran sighed. "Beats me. Whatever Uppers spend all their money on, I guess." She snapped her fingers suddenly. "Oh! And doctors visits. I bet they provide those, so get as many as you can."

Una shifted on her feet self-consciously. "What for?"

"The hell do you mean what for?" Moran asked. "I don't know, doctor stuff. Whatever doctors do."

The ground began to shake beneath them, and both of their heads snapped to the side, watching as the train rumbled into the station. "Shit," Una said, feeling her heart race. Was she actually about to do this? Who was going to be the first to look at her and wring out her neck like the rat from the previous night?

Moran put a hand on her shoulder. "You've got this," she said. "Shit, you're lucky you're able to go. You know how many kids here would kill for that opportunity?"

Una did know, actually. It's why Moran and Kamau had insisted she not tell anybody. Not that she had anyone to tell, anyway. Still...

As the train pulled to a complete stop, a high-pitched whine filled the air. "Fuck," Una muttered.

"Come on, you're fine," Moran said, giving Una a shove towards the doors. "You've got this. Free food and a bed for four years. Visit over holidays. You know the regulars love you, they'll pretend you're still seventeen and let you pick up a few shifts when you're back in town."

Una grimaced. "Yep."

"Make sure you ice your bruises," Moran added. "It'll keep the swelling down."

"I know," Una said softly, glancing back at her sister, who was now watching her awkwardly, head slightly tilted, eyes troubled. Una had been taking care of her own wounds for years now. It seemed like Moran was getting sentimental after all.

"I'll see you when you get back," Moran said, giving a firm nod. Behind Una, the doors hissed as they slid open.

"Winter break at the latest," Una said, breathing shakily before nodding in return. She turned and walked onto the train with her small duffle bag, and forced herself to keep moving to locate her seat. She didn't give herself a chance to turn around until she'd sat down, pressed against a window. A silly part of her thought of waving, like she'd heard of people doing when they were going off on big, grand adventures--Una's window was facing the opposite side of the tracks though, and when she glanced at the window across the aisle, Moran had already walked away.

That was fine. She was in this on her own now, but that didn't mean she was completely alone. Her siblings had taught her everything they'd known, and were the main reason she could fight like she did, which meant they were also the reason she'd gotten noticed enough to be invited to apply to Lux.

The train filled up slowly as they hit station after station, getting closer and closer to the capital of the country: Glinthaven. Una had never been, but she'd heard it was a lot nicer than Flenting, and a lot richer, too. She already disliked it. Still, when they finally pulled into the station after several hours of children screaming and couples fighting, she exited the train and her eyes couldn't stop wandering. Everything looked nice here. The streets were labeled neatly, and each building had its numbers painted into the sidewalk. Windows weren't shattered, and people drove polished cars down the roads. There were even airships, flying the city's most elite to wherever they were going. She did not belong here.

That thought sent another sick wave through her stomach--or maybe she was still recovering from the wound from the battleaxe. The Uppers at Lux would no doubt think she looked out of place. The staff would no doubt think she looked out of place. She wasn't sure she was going to find anyone she could connect with here. Well, she was quite used to that. She didn't connect much with anyone. She'd make it last. It was only four years.

As she navigated her way out of the train station, she caught several people staring at her, and rolled her shoulders. She didn't know what they were seeing on her, but it was clear there was something that was making her stand out, though she had no idea what, which was more unsettling than the stares. She didn't like standing out in a crowd. She'd prefer to be invisible.

Since that wasn't an option, she pulled her hood up and kept walking. She didn't know where she was going, and she didn't want to talk to any of the strangers passing her on the sidewalk--but it couldn't be too difficult to find, right? There was a giant tree sprouting from the middle of it.

Wrong. It took her at least an hour of wandering before she finally saw the tree in the distance--greens and blue stretching high into the sky, sparkling in a way that seemed otherworldly. She'd never seen anything like it, and it only added to her paranoia. Great. The rats are back.

She was far away from it, and knew it would likely take at least another hour to reach on foot. Still, she couldn't bear to try to talk to someone and find another way there. She couldn't be self-sufficient if she had to ask someone for something on her first day here. That wasn't going to get her anywhere. Besides, she was used to being on her feet all day, and moving. She'd push through, and she'd check in, and then she'd sleep, and she'd deal with everything else tomorrow.

As she approached the academy, the tree seemed to grow taller, as did the walls surrounding the campus. There were crowds of people bustling around--parents worrying, and servants unloading bags from cars and carriages and airships, and people riding in on horses. There were some people who looked close to Una's age who seemed like they were nervous, but still, nobody looked like her. Certainly, nobody looked like they were wearing multiple layers of clothes just to get everything here. The rat has arrived, she thought queasily, before she pushed the thought aside. It didn't matter how they viewed her. She would hate the Uppers either way, so there was no reason to be nervous. Unless they use their power to kick you out of here. Unless they make you disappear like Oya, or Slone. Dead body in an arena, or never found.

She slipped her hands into her knuckle knives, fingering the metal like it would help calm her paranoia. She had done more than most of these people probably ever had. She had fought tooth and nail to get here, and she sure as hell wasn't going to let anyone bully her away. Oh gods, she felt a little sick.

Slowly, she began to slip through more and more clusters of people--families talking, friends laughing. Many looked nervous, and Una hoped it didn't show on her face like it was showing on theirs. She wasn't afraid of the fighting, or the initiation. She was afraid of-- No. Stop that. She wasn't afraid of anything, because she was self-sufficient, and she didn't care what others thought about her anyway. She wasn't nervous.

She set her jaw and looked around determinedly, trying to locate someone to tell her what she needed to do next. Surely they had staff here somewhere.

"Hi," a cheery voice said from beside her, and Una whipped her head around. It was a man around her height--so he was definitely short--with a big smile and long hair pulled back in a clip behind his head. "Are you here to check in?"

Una cleared her throat. Her nerves felt like they were on fire. "Yeah," she said gruffly, hoisting the dufflebag further up her shoulder and glancing suspiciously at the people who gave occasional glances in her direction. "I was told I should show someone this letter?"

She pulled out the crumbled envelope, unfolded it, and shoved it unceremoniously into his hands. The man, for his part, took it in stride, and removed the piece of paper, skimming it briefly, before his eyes brightened. "Oh, wonderful!" He said enthusiastically. "Great, yep! We've got the spot marked down for you, but we only knew your stage name, Una. Is that what you go by normally?"

Una nodded uncomfortably, scratching the back of her head and pushing a few strands of hair out of her eyes. "Yeah," she said. "Do you-- need my full name, or?"

"Yep, if you don't mind," the man said, pulling a pencil out of his pocket and pressing it against the clipboard Una hadn't noticed until now.

"Unakite Thane Mathai," she said quietly, glancing over at a few students with a frown before rolling her shoulder and looking away again. Why were they looking in her direction? They're probably not looking at you, she told herself. Stop being paranoid.

"Great, and that last name is spelled--"

"M-a-t-h-a-i," Una said, resisting the urge to look over at the students again. They looked rich, and they definitely didn't look like they were wearing tons of clothing layers just to transport things.

"Great, great," the man said, nodding along. "Lovely to see you, Una, it's always really nice to have applicants from different-- backgrounds." He smiled even brighter on the last word, and Una resisted the urge to shrink away.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"And do you have any weapons or armor?" The man asked.

"Why?" Una said, narrowing her eyes.

"If you do, we'll need to take them for safe-keeping until initiation tomorrow," the man explained. "You know, no blood shed in the Great Hall and all that," he joked.

Una's hands slid involuntarily into her pockets for her knuckle knives. "You're trying to take them?"

"No, no, not at all!" He assured quickly. "Again, it's really just a safety thing."

Una watched him, disgruntled. "Just a safety thing," she repeated, like maybe that could change his answer.

"Yeah, just a safety thing," the man said, now eyeing her warily with a fake, plastered smile. "So...?"

Finally, Una reluctantly pulled them from her pockets. "Where do I put them?"

"Here, just in this tray," he said. "I'll take them and label them and make sure they're all safe."

Una slowly lowered them into the tray, heart pounding as she did so. She wanted initiation to start as soon as possible-- she wasn't used to being without them.

"Great," the man said. "And we can also take your luggage-- uh, there's a restroom if you'd like to store any clothing away for the time being," he suggested, causing her cheeks to flare up. "And just as a final thing--"

He handed the clipboard to her and tapped the pencil against a question at the bottom: Do you have any fears or allergies?

"Is this a joke?" Una asked, looking up at him.

"Uh, no," he said.

"Everyone has fears," she said. "If they say they don't, they're lying."

"Right... well, it's more a question of what they are."

Una studied the page for a moment. Were they going to try to use this against her in some way? She shouldn't lie though, she was here to make sure she stayed here, not to get sent home for lying. Finally, she took the pencil and wrote, Being drained. It wasn't like they could use that against her, could they?

She shoved the clipboard back towards him, and he smiled as he took it. "Wonderful. Welcome to Lux! You'll be sleeping in the Great Hall tonight with the other initiates, and tomorrow will bring initiation. We've got plenty of food, so feel free to eat as much as you want, and we'll get started tomorrow. Oh-- and I would suggest getting some of those layers off. Hand them off to a staff member with your bag, and we'll keep them safe."

Una nodded hesitantly, then walked past him, heading towards the direction of the restroom he'd indicated earlier. One thing was certain: she wasn't here for initiation. Whether they liked it or not, the rat was here to stay.

The pile of blankets and pillows was quickly dwindling by the time Pyrope finally made her way to retrieve bedding for herself. She had quietly separated herself from the others after her meeting with Chite and snagged a blanket however didn't care much about a pillow since a blanket itself was a luxury. There had been plenty of times when she slept outside or somewhere not in the comfort of her room. Often times it was when people where over later in the night be it a party or relatives staying since they were in town. No one wanted her there then, they pretended she didn't even exist. She wasn't allowed so much as to show her face when others were over and had to stay out of the house. Some nights she could sneak back in through her bedroom window but most she just found the comfiest place she could, a park bench if it was nice enough, a bus stop if it was raining, anywhere that was comfortable. Oh well, she preferred to lay her head on her arm anyway, it felt more natural.

She laid her bedding out in a relatively open area for when the others found her again and wanted to join her but for now, she just sat quietly on the blanket, her mind wandering this way and that. She needed to be alone to think.

The meeting she had had with Chite was... interesting to say the least. There was something off, a strange kinship she could feel between them that hadn't been there before. He seemed much more serious then he had been at Feren, there was less friendliness there then there had been in the past but he hadn't rejected her. Whatever he had showed towards her was the same thing she felt deep inside her but refused to let most of her comrades see.

He was right though, it was time to get serious. There was no going back from this, no future if she failed. She had two options- well, three really. There was either not go to Lux or go home, but it was much too late for that now, she had no future there. Going down that road would leave her being a nameless nobody, trying to make a living on the streets. There was surviving whatever Lux threw at her and becoming a darksbane which she would give every scrap of what she had to attempt. Or, there was dying trying to get there. Either of the last two possibilities were possible but she would not back down, no matter what. She'd come out of Lux a darksbane or end up six feet under fighting for the people she cared about.

The thoughts in her mind kept spiraling as she slowly laid back on the blanket and stared at the ceiling. Every track just came back to the same conclusion over and over. Protect, survive, or perish. There was no use in taking up space without glory and honor. Protect, survive, or perish. She couldn't be abandoned if she was of some use to people. Protect, survive. The words had become a chanting rhythm in her mind now, she couldn't lose anyone else-

"Pyr!" Angel ambled over from the snack table, voice muffled by the food in his mouth. "Did you know they gave us food? I didn't even see that until..." Angel counted on his fingers, which proved difficult while holding various snacks. "five minutes ago!"

He sat down next to Pyr on the bare floor, not even bothering to grab a blanket first. It'd be silly to sit on a blanket with food in one's hand.

Pyrope quickly sat up, the sort of blank expression from before being instantaneously replaced by an amused smile. "Oh yeah, I saw the food, just wasn't too hungry I guess to make much of a note of it. How is it though?"

Angel shrugged, this time swallowing his food before answering. "I mean, it's food from a rich school. It's about what you'd expect. There's mostly just snacks, though."

Pyr grinned, knowing it was absolutely better then most of what she usually had. "Sounds delicious then. Maybe I'll get some in a minute."

Angel nodded enthusiastically. He all but inhaled the rest of the food he had grabbed before bouncing back up to his feet. He retreived his own blanket and pillow from the pile, taking his time choosing the bedding to his liking. He plopped down on the floor next to Pyr, wiggling around to get comfortable. Angel turned to her with a frown. "This isn't very comfortable."

Pyr chuckled and laid back, folding her arms underneath her head. "You're welcome to take another pillow if you want. I don't need one for myself so you can have mine."

Angel didn't need to be told twice. "Oh, perfect!" He jumped up to his feet once more, rushing to grab another pillow. He followed the same pattern of plopping down, wiggling around, and turning to Pyr with a frown. "That didn't do much. The floor isn't very soft, as it turns out."

Pyr chuckled once more. "Let me help, I know how to make it a little more comfy, bearable at least. Are you a side sleeper or a back sleeper?"

Angel made a face. "Well...I fall asleep on my side sometimes, but other times my back, and sometimes my stomach. But then I wake up all tangled up in the blankets, so I'm not really sure."

Pyr nodded slowly, contemplating the right course of action and how to position the pillows and blankets to be most comfortable for him. "Okay, so, you can do two things. Do whichever is most comfortable. The first thing you can do is put a pillow horizontal lower so that it supports your back and takes a bit of weight off the rest of your body. Just squish the middle down enough so it's comfy and it'll also keep you from rolling and keep you just on the pillows. Then you can take the other pillow and sleep with it like normal, or put it vertical if you want it under your back then fold like, a sweater up as another pillow for your head. You could also take the lower pillow and put it vertical too to form a sort of mattress if you want but you might roll off at night." She suggested, taking her own blanket and folding it into a sort of square/rectangle so it was thicker then just a single layer. "You can put this under the pillows too to insulate yourself from the ground a bit better."

Angel blinked at Pyr, once, then twice. "I think I'm just doomed to suffer tonight," he conceded.

She snorted and just rolled him to the side before beginning to construct a makeshift bed for him. She first laid down the folded blanket to serve as an insulation layer then squished the pillows until they were wide and flat but still fluffy and put them so that they were a long strip of pillows that served as a cushion. From there she glanced around before just taking her padded surcoat she wore over her normal clothes and folding it up until it was a smal but still functionl pillow and set it at the top of the pillow mattress.

"Okay, try that." She said, motioning to the newly constructed bed. "Tell me what you think."

Angel laid down on the makeshift bed, again wiggling around to get comfortable. "I think I'm no longer doomed to suffer," Angel nodded. He smiled up at Pyr. "Thanks, Pyr, you're the best."

Pyrope grinned back, just glad he was comfortable and happy. Unfortunately it meant she would be cold tonight but she was used to it and as long as he was happy, that was all that mattered. Now she just had to hope Merry wouldn't have the same problem since she didn't have anything else to provide besides maybe her sweater. "Anytime."

Despite his presumed comfort, Angel sprung up from the makeshift bed and walked to the nearest window, peering outside. He was quiet for a while before speaking up again. "Think we could go outside? I mean, they can't keep us locked in here, can they? I might go insane if I have to stay in here the entire night. What happened to the great outdoors, huh? Our world is rapidly modernizing past the point of recognition," he lamented dramatically.

Pyr barely held back her amusement in his lamenting and grinned. "Well, I mean they can try to keep us locked up in here if they want but I don't think it's that good of an idea to do so so we can probably go outside. We're all pretty much adults anyway, why shouldn't we be allowed outside?"

"Exactly!" Angel pushed away from the window, scanning the room for an exit. It seemed the only way out was through the large doors. Angel pointed toward them. "Think those are locked?"

Pyr was already looking for alternative escape routes should the doors not work. Maybe a window could work... Even if it was up high that wouldn't be a problem, it wasn't as if she didn't do that exact same thing back home. In fact, she could probably consider it one of her most useful skills. "Wouldn't hurt to check. Just do so carefully."

"Right, carefully," Angel muttered.

For Angel, "carefully," entailed waltzing right up to the giant doors of the Great Hall and violently rattling them to see if they would open. They did not. A few kids stirred, but most fell back asleep.

Angel sighed in defeat and returned to Pyr. "No luck."

Pyr hadn't really expected much else and nodded a bit. "I guessed so much. We'll have to find another way out."

"Ah, that's the fun part," Angel grinned. He inspected the nearby windows again. None of them had any sort of latch to open up. He huffed and glanced at a window at the end of the hall, much higher up than the others. He nodded toward it. "That might be our only option. Still up for an escape just for a breath of fresh air?"

Pyr glanced at it and grinned. "Oh, this'll be easy. Just follow my lead and don't slip."

She began heading determinedly to the wall before patting it a little, judging handholds and footholds and the difficulty of scaling the wall itself. Noting a but of more decorative stonework, she managed to get a decent handhold and essentially walk up the wall a short ways before reaching for another and hoisting herself up from that one until she reached a ledge she could stand on to get the window open.

"Alright, follow me up just like how I climbed it."

Angel smiled at the task ahead. He glanced around the room, taking note of the onlookers. It was hard to miss a girl climbing up a wall that was certainly not meant for climbing and make it look natural nonetheless. Angel shrugged. "We're gonna get in trouble for this," he muttered, hoisting himself up.

Angel followed Pyrope's path, and with the difficulty of searching for handholds and footholds removed, he scaled the wall quickly. He was no stranger to climbing things that shouldn't be climbed. Angel joined Pyr on the ledge, clinging close to the wall so he didn't fall.

A hand and a head simultaneously came into view as someone else climbed up to the ledge. It was a boy with brown eyes that twinkled with a smile, and black hair that was slowly being taken over with grey ones. The hair probably made him look older than he actually was. He kept his voice quiet as he spoke. "Howdy."

Pyr blinked at him in mild surprise that he had managed and chosen to follow them despite herself not having met him in her life. Then again, it wasn't hard to miss herself or Angel so that part wasn't too surprising at all. He seemed friendly enough though and so Pyr happily returned the gesture, keeping her voice low as well as she grinned back. "Hey! Plan to get a breath of fresh air with us?"

"Yeah, it's a great idea." He nodded.

She grinned brighter. "Glad you think so! We just need to make it out of this window now."

"Don't look at me for that, I'll probably shatter it." He joked.

She chuckled "I'll go first, you two just follow my lead." She said before reaching to open the window as wide as she could and shimmy out it carefully, managing to find another ledge to stand on outside.

"You know, I'm kind of an expert on sneaking out, but yeah, whatever, I'll 'follow your lead,'" Angel sighed dramatically. Before he stepped out, though, he turned to the new guy with narrowed eyes. "And who are you?"

"The name's Mica. Pleasure to meet you." He was still grinning, and still pretty upbeat.

"Hm." Angel seemed to consider Mica, looking him up and down. Then he broke out into a wide grin. "I'm Angel. You seem fun. Nice to meet you, too, Mica."

Mica let Angel go before him and Pyr carefully made sure he didn't slip or anything. Mica climbed out pretty well. When he was younger he always did the most stupid things possible, which included climbing whatever possible.

Pyr glanced at the two once they had made it outof the window and grinned. "Alright, up to the roof? Or somewhere else?"

"Roof sounds good to me!"

Pyr nodded to Mica with a grin. "Angel? What's your verdict?"

Angel shrugged. "The roof works."

"Alright!" Pyr said happily before continuing to climb up.

The stone was a bit rougher on the outside of the building and made it much easier to climb then the inside had been, with plenty of handholds and footholds between the large blocks. The hardest part now would just be getting up onto the roof since the edge of it had a slight overhang. That was no problem for Pyrope though, she simply climbed until she reached the roof and then grabbed onto the edge of it, hanging as her feet left the wall. She then simply pulled herself up and swung one of her legs over the edge before fully pulling herself onto the roof with ease. After all, she had done it more times then she could count back home. It was the same concept.

Once she was fully up on the roof she looked down at the other two. "I'm here if you need help getting up, just give me the word." She offered.

Mica launched himself up the wall, grabbing hand holds where he could and just propulsed himself upwards. It was risky, but he enjoyed the thrill of it. He never climbed a wall where the roof stuck out that much though. He just followed Pyrope's example.

"You're good at climbing!" He complimented once fully on the roof.

Pyrope beamed. "Thanks! I do it a lot so I've had plenty of practice. You're really good too though!"

Angel followed closely behind Mica, reaching for the handholds and footholds Mica had used. He hoisted himself up and onto the roof with a huff, laying flat on his back and looking up at the sky. "Nice view," he noted dully before popping up.

Pyr chuckled and glanced up at the sky. "It is, isn't it?" She had always liked the stars to some extent; they seemed so mysterious. However, they also felt cold in their mystery and so she liked the warmth of the sun better. Not to say the stars weren't pretty though.

Mica nodded in agreement, tapping his fingers on his legs.

Angel strayed away from Pyr and Mica, peering over the far ledge of the roof. "Hey, don't fall off. It's a pretty high drop," he pointed out like it wasn't already obvious.

"I don't particularly plan to." Pyrope mused with a small grin. "It's nicer up here then it is on the ground anyway."

"I wouldn't unless I knew what I was doing." Mica shrugged. "Then again, I've done stupider."

Angel wandered back over to the two with a grin. He plopped down on the roof, leaning back on his hands and tilting his head up to the sky. "Oh? Do tell. I love a good story."

"Heely shoes on top of two story homes with a snare drum in front of me, hanging from my shoulders."

"Oh, you play drums?" Angel turned to Mica with a curious grin, seemingly ignoring the part when Mica said he was atop a two story building while playing said drums. "That's cool. Do you play any other instruments?"

"Anything needed for a rock band." Mica replied with a grin, happy to talk about his passion.

Pyr grinned, half listening in as she took in the surroundings, looking at the academy grounds that they would all soon be accustomed to. For right now though, everything was still new but it would be better to take them in now so she had somewhat of an idea as what to expect in the morning.

After a moment, Pyrope noticed other voices around the academy grounds. They were quiet but loud enough to be heard if one was listening closely and proof that the three weren't alone anymore. Carefully, Pyr stepped away from the group, climbing higher up the roof until she reached the peak and looked over, trying to locate exactly where the voices were coming from. However, she not only saw who was talking but something much worse.

Far below where she was perched on the roof, several of the faculty were trying to wrangle... something. It nearly seemed invisible but Pyr was able to barely make out the light consuming shape of the creature from against the moonlit ground. The thing seemed almost like a void, it's beast like form shifting and billowing with darkness, a darkness that promised to consume all it touched in the most terrible way possible. It was only when the beast looked up at her though with glowing red eyes as if locked on her as its prey that she realized what it truly was-

A Voidborn.

Quickly, she ducked behind the peak of the roof once more and slid down the shingles a short way before she reached Mica and Angel, swiftly quieting their previous conversation. "Guys, shhhh. We need to keep quiet and probably get back inside-"

Angel looked up at Pyr, his brows furrowing. "Why? What's going on?" He rose to his feet, glancing over Pyr's shoulder, trying to spot what had so clearly disturbed her.

"What?" Mica whispered.

"They've got a voidborn over there-" She whispered back to them before looking pointedly at Angel. "Don't you think about going over there to look either. Yeah it's cool but if that thing gets free, we don't have anything to fight it off with- and it already saw me."

"What?" Mica looked shocked.

"So...you're saying I can't go and look at it?" Angel asked with an all-too innocent expression.

Pyr nodded seriously. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

"I say we go back inside. This is not the kind of stupid stuff I want to do."

Angel sighed, but reluctantly nodded along. "Alright, alright." He started walking back to the ledge of the roof. "But think about it. How often would an initiate see something like that? Don't you think it'd be useful? Especially if we have to go up against one of those one day."

"Something tells me we're going to be seeing it again much sooner then we like..." Pyrope murmured quietly. "Lets just get inside in case that thing gets loose. From what I saw, I don't know how much they'll be able to control it if it gets much more wild."

Mica swung down first. It was easier to go back down than it was going up, at least for him.

Pyr knelt beside the edge of the roof, peering down to make sure Mica made it to the window okay then glanced up at Angel and motioned for him to go next as she glanced around to ensure the Voidborn hadn't gotten free.

Angel made quick word of descending the wall, quickly scampering down and pulling himself inside through the window.

Ensuring they were both safe and sound inside the hall again, Pyr made her way down again as well and slipped inside the window, closing it again behind herself so that it looked like nothing had happened.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I feel quite refreshed after that excursion," Angel noted.

"It was nice." Mica agreed.

Pyr chuckled a little bit despite glancing back at the window again. "yeah, it was nice. Probably good to get some sleep now though, yeah?"

Mica nodded.

Pyr hummed and managed to climb down from the window, waiting for the other two at the bottom until they had made it down.

After such adventures as they had just had, sleep sounded like a rather good idea, especially with initiation looming the next morning. So, after a brief goodnight to Mica so he could get some rest, Pyrope led the way back to her and Angel's spots and smiled a little when she saw the makeshift bed she had constructed for him earlier. "Need anything else to make yourself comfortable?" She asked, sitting down with a slight yawn.

Angel laid down with a shake of his head. In fact, he handed Pyr some of the things she had sacrificed earlier. He grinned. "I'll be fine. There isn't any reason you should be uncomfortable, too. Besides, climbing out of the building was enough of an adrenaline rush to put me to sleep here pretty soon."

"I'll be fine, I'm used to it. I don't mind at all." She pushed smiled and stubbornly handed them back to him. "It's more important for you to be comfortable and get some rest. I'll be able to do the same without this."

Angel raised a brow. "You sure?"

Pyr nodded decisively and smiled. "I'm sure."

With a shrug---and some reluctance---Angel took back the blankets and pillows, arranging them just as Pyr had. He laid back down with a deep breath and let his eyes fall closed. "Well, goodnight, Pyrope. It's been fun. Don't die in the middle of the night, okay?"

She chuckled softly and laid down as well, resting her head on her arm like a pillow. She was all too used to sleeping like this by now and while the floor was hard, and a little cold, it did provide an odd sense of comfort. Had she slept with a proper pillow and blanket, it probably would have just put her on edge anyway.

"I'll be okay as long as you don't die in the middle of the night either." She said, giving him a comforting smile before closing her eyes and letting herself slowly relax.

As long as the people who mattered to her were okay, she would be too. No matter what happened.

Malachite jerked awake as a flash of light sprinted past his closed eyes. He surged upright, looking around him. The scenario in front of him was foreign and unfamiliar. His heart raced as panic flooded in.

That was the first moment of the mornings for him. After that fleck of horror passed, his mind was awake enough to begin piecing together reality in a way that made sense again. As he rubbed at the pain in his left breast, he was able to relax a bit. Yes, he was in an unfamiliar place, but it was not unexpected. And it wasn't his room back in Whyndsor. It wasn't his father right around the corner.

His chest still hurt.

He had deduced that it was either the first rays of light from the tall and narrow windows of the hall that woke him up or it was some sort of commotion from some early birds that caused a noise or reflection of light. Either way, it looked like he was up for the day. The beating in his ears would not let him go back to sleep, not for awhile. It was a horrid habit that had been learned over the years. At the very least, it helped Chite maintain an early enough sleep schedule that had been demanded of him from an early age.

Chite did not have the wherewithal to face today just yet, so he focused himself on a menial task first, to collect himself before he had to face what today brought. That task ended up being first folding up the bedclothes he used the night before. It was nothing comfortable, but he had slept in worse. The blanket was thick and soft, but it did next to nothing to comfort against the wooden floor. The pillow was equally as soft but offered more support. He took his time folding the blanket. It was larger than he expected, as he didn't really take the time inspecting it the night before, but it was a good length and plenty longer than he was tall. He drug it to its full length and width and then gingerly brought one corner to the other edge, folding it in half. He did that three more times before it was compact enough for him to carry.

He sat the pillow on top and focused his attention subsequently on the clothes he had shed the night before. It comprised of the outer suit jacket he carried with him from the airship, a thin black outer vest, and a larger but equally thin inner vest. The vests were not the most comfortable thing to wear to sleep. He folded each piece of clothing carefully and quietly. After he was finished, he had a smaller pile of clothes on top of the bedclothes.

He grabbed the pile and exited his little nook to finally absorb the situation this morning.

He did not know how early it was, but seeing as mostly all the other initiates were still asleep in their assorted piles around the hall, he assumed it was barely past dawn. However, it was interestingly fairly busy in the hall. In the corners and along the walls were several staff members who were busy clearing clearing away the debris of the night before. The main doors of the hall were still closed, but a pair of doors off to the right were wide open, and Chite noticed several more staff members walking past the doors. Looks like they were busy setting up whatever initiation was.

Chite set his bedclothes next to the much smaller pile of blankets and pillows. Two attendants were sorting the blankets and pillows into two carts. Chite attempted to get the attention of one to see if they wanted his, but they just offered a small polite smile and continued their task. Malachite was a bit taken aback by this. He wasn't used to being ignored. He attempted another try by clearing his throat and added a polite enough "Excuse me." but the attendant paid him even less mind that time around.

Malachite said nothing more and just set his stuff to the side. Wordlessly, the attendants took his blanket and pillow and sorted them as well.

Chite's stomach grumbled. That was when he noticed the Lux staff were also taking apart the bench that held the food and water the evening before. They noticeably were not adding any breakfast to the tables. Chite slid in between two people and grabbed a stale piece of toast, a muffin, and three pieces of jerky. He stuff the breads into his pockets and grabbed a water bottle as well. The staff paid him no heed. They didn't even bother looking at him this time around.

Interesting. Malachite leaned against a wall as he took the scene in. He noticed a student or two start to budge and toss around, indicating they were close to waking up. The staff took care not to interfere with any of the sleeping initiates and effortlessly weaved in between them when they needed to, just as they avoided any interaction with Chite. It reminded him of one of the challenges he had gone through at Stenick Academy's Pure Program. It was a special set of classes for those who showed potential and initiative to get to Zenith. Chite's teachers had spoiled him with attention for a week straight and then completely ignored him on the second week, forcing him to fend for himself. He had no one to answer his questions, no one to help him, and no one to guide him. At first, he felt like he was going crazy and spent much of the first day and night crying. However, after the first and second day, he had slowly begun to realize that it was a test of his intelligence and intuition. He had to realize he had no one to rely on when it really mattered besides himself and what he could do for himself. It was a tough lesson to learn at ten years old, but it served him well.

It brought him back to the speech from the Headmistress the night before. Initiation was meant to test them, she said, and they would not receive help. It seemed she meant that quite literally.

Malachite found Pyrope over on an opposite edge of the hall, sleeping next to a few others he didn't recognize under the pile of blankets. For a moment, he considered waking her up. But, as he had directly explained to her yesterday, it was time to get serious. She, along with all those who skirted by in Feren, would have to learn the hard way. Just as he did.

He stuffed the last of the jerky in his mouth and decided to explore where the opened doors led to. He didn't need to explore far, as there was another couple of open doors across the hall. He explored the rest of the hall but all the other doors were closed and locked behind access codes. He noticed one attendant go through a door but he couldn't make out what was in the room before the door closed behind the staff. Using a tiny tidbit of problem solving, it was clear that he was supposed to go through the only other open door. And so he did.

This next room was some kind of lounge that was repurposed for initiation. Chairs were pushed to all corners of the room to make space for lockers that were set up in rows on each side of the room. In the other end of the room was a single open door that let in the bright light of the sun outside. Malachite scanned the first row of lockers. They all had names on them. He saw Pyrope's name. On the next row, he found his own locker. It opened without a code or a key to a lock. Inside, it was empty. Malachite's brows furrowed. Instinctively, he opened the locked to his left, a "Jasper", and inside were weapons and some pieces of leather armor. Ah, so this was where they were supposed to gear up before initiation. Looks like they never found Chite's weapon. He let out a small snicker. He wondered how long it took for them to go through all of his belongings, just to find no weapon. They didn't wake him up in the middle of the night so they didn't really care if he had a weapon or not.

Malachite set his clothes in his locker and decided to shed his dress shirt as well, unfastening the buttons on his forearms before the main buttons. As he took it off, it revealed his actual weapon: a silver and steel band on his right forearm. If one looked at it, they might have thought it was some kind of Sterling watch. But, inside it stored a hidden blade. If Malachite pinched his junior finger and his thumb together, it would sprout out a blade past his wrist.

Now that Chite had removed his dress shirt, he had only his undershirt on: a thin white t-shirt. It wasn't his usual attire, that was for sure, but it had to do for initiation. He needed flexibility if he was expected to fight, and his usual attire did not allow much of that.

There was a tiny mirror in the locker, and he grimaced at his reflection. He looked like he didn't get much sleep. He smoothed down his hair and decided that was good enough. It would annoy him but he had to remind himself that he could worry about looks again later.

He took one last look into the Great Hall. He saw more students awake and rummaging around. He wondered if Pyrope or Ametrine were one of them. Well, he would find out eventually.

He exited Lux Tower, shielding his eyes from the blast of sunlight that attacked him as he soon as he left. The sun was not high in the sky, barely peeking over the mountains in the east, but the crystalline tree reflected its light down all over campus. He would have to get used to that.

Outside the tower was a concrete path that Chite followed. After a few meters, the concrete ended, but a more natural dirt path continued. Chite continued along the path as it left the Academy's walls. It followed alongside the cliff edge, and the air filled with the intense stench of saltwater. It burnt the hairs inside his nostrils and cleared his mind. It was not a scent that Malachite was used to, but it reminded him of the stark cool air during winter mornings back home, when the snow had settled and all was calm. Here, he could heard the rustling of the waves crashing into the coast far below him, but there was still that familiar sense of calm otherwise. It was a demanded peace from nature's most extreme actions, like a reputation that preceded it.

Malachite trudged along the path. The remnants of some kind of rain caused his steps to stick momentarily. Perhaps it was just being so close to the sea caused the land to be eternally sludge-like. He saw no one in front of him, which confirmed his suspicions that he was the first of the initiates to rise. Then again, there was a decent chance Chite was completely wrong in his assumptions and he was just following a path that led to nowhere.

However, logic was on his side. He was familiar with Zenith's entrance exam as he had been primed to study it from the beginning of his Darksbane training. If this initiation was anything like that exam, it was some kind of physical test used to determine the applicant's fighting ability, deduction skills, intuition, and ability to think outside of the box.

Lux's campus was quite large, but it was not large enough to house a physical space large enough for dozens of initiates to show their skills at the same time.

The path curved away from the sea, still following the cliff edge. The sandy shore vanished as the cliffside ventured inland. It transformed into a thick and dense forest. It was then that Chite finally saw other people. As he got closer, he noticed the Headmistress' unmistakable silhouette. There were a few people around her who glanced up at Chite as he trudged closer to them. They were definitely not other initiates. They were possible teachers or veteran Darksbane, there to watch initiation no doubt. The dirt path ended and a concrete circle clearing cradled the edge of the cliff.

Odessa met eyes with Chite for a moment and nodded slightly in acknowledgement. That was all she gave before she turned and engaged in quite conversation with someone to her right. Chite stood there, one brow raised, as he took everything he could in.

The concrete pad that he now stood on was quite large. One curved edge peeked right up to the cliffside and overlooked the forest below. The other part was much larger and followed the slight downward slope of the hill. There were several metal squares built within the concrete pad, but it was otherwise bare of anything. Out of curiosity, Chite stepped onto one of the squares. It didn't budge from his weight. He stepped off and studied the path he had just taken. It was actually pretty far from the Academy, to the point where he could no longer make out the walls. Only the Lux Tower and its tree were still sticking out from the horizon, blotting out the rising sun.

The next two students popped up from the distance on the pathway. Neither were Pyrope. A grimaced gradually formed on his face. Perhaps he should have woken her up. No, he couldn't. If he had his way, he would avoid anyone he knew from Feren, but it wasn't his choice. After all, he was the one who decided to attend Lux.

He joined Feren Academy at the age of 13, just after he had graduated early from Stenick Academy. It was then that he decided he would focus on attending Lux Academy instead of Zenith, much to his family's chagrin. He had made the difficult choice to leave his old life behind, but he didn't go to Feren to learn. Really, they did not give him much to learn that he didn't already know from Stenick and his own private training. He came to Glinthaven to experience something new, and joining Feren Academy was just his excuse. So, he ended up slacking off in school. Sure, he got the highest marks in his grades and he still sparred and trained (he was even a frequent attendee of some fight clubs in the city, just to keep himself sharp), but he didn't really care about it all. Still, somehow, some people stuck around him and he eventually made some friends during his time there.

Now was no time for friendship. Pyrope, as entertaining as she was back at Feren, was now just a distraction. Becoming a Darksbane required no distractions. He learned that the moment he graduated Stenick. His path was one of solitude. There was a part of Pyrope that potentially acknowledged that as well, judging from that encounter the night before.

Chite turned away from the trickling of other students. If there was any time to focus on himself, it was now.

Eventually, a bulk of the students did manage to make it. He could hear yawns and coughs as some of them were obviously still waking up. A few of them even still had their pajamas on. It made sense that, as more and more connected the dots, the herd would eventually get the hint and make their way outside. In the corner of his eye, he spotted Pyrope. She had either not noticed him yet or took his advice to heart and distanced herself from him.

A staff member stepped up to Chite and handed him a backpack. He took it without voicing his question. She gestured to the steel plate. "If you will, please." He stepped onto it and she moved on from him. He glanced around to see all of the initiates being handed backpacks as well and they were directed to stand on the other plates. His heart quickened against his will. He wasn't nervous, but the anticipation was getting to him. He wanted to roll his eyes at his own self. He had been through things like this plenty of times and planned for things like this. It couldn't be helped, but damn if he wouldn't be annoyed about it.

As more and more students wandered in, Headmistress Odessa was given another microphone, just like yesterday evening. The mic whined with a modicum of feedback and she started off her second speech with a simple greeting. "Good morning, initiates. Congratulations for making it this far."

It sounded to Chite like not many people actually made it past the Great Hall. Maybe this wasn't as difficult as he expected it to be.

"I'll keep it brief. Behind me is initiation. At the base of this cliff is an obsidian door. This obsidian door requires obsidian keys. Each key is split in half, and will require a partner to complete. The obsidian keys are in a clearing deep within the forest. You just have to get to the clearing, grab the two key halves, and get back to the door. Simple enough, right?" She smiled like she had just told a joke. None of the students found it funny. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a whistle. "If you are in danger or night has fallen, use your whistle. We'll come get you." She stashed the whistle back in her dress and glanced behind her.

After a moment, she glanced back at her captive audience. "We'll wait just a moment for any stragglers." Malachite looked around. There were a few folks who ran up the path to the rest of them. After they got their backpacks, Chite turned back to the Headmistress. It was just a waiting game, and while Chite considered himself a patient person, he was not that patient.

"Okay, looks like it's time. Welcome to inti--"

The floor beneath Chite opened up and swallowed him whole.

Rin finished the first floor of his mental library as he lay on his blanket after dinner. Sleep followed soon after. He'd briefly stopped his designing and watched slack-jawed as three initiates climbed out a window, but then he'd rolled over and closed his eyes, ignoring any further distractions.

If he dreamed, the last remnants were cleared from his mind by the time he woke. Judging by the light sneaking through the windows, it was soon after dawn. If he were at home, this would be when he got dressed and headed outside to warm up, stretch, and run through some forms with his spear. Then he'd have a light breakfast with his grandmother.... his thoughts drifted briefly. Do better than his mother. That meant... that meant he should get up instead of daydreaming. Citrine snapped his thoughts back to the present.

The first step was to clean up after himself. He folded the blanket and pillow and left them by the side of the hall. An attendant silently collected them.

There was the murmer of a few nervous conversations as a couple of initiates exited through a door, but the majority of initiates were still asleep. Rin savored the quiet. There was something off, though... Rin couldn't put his finger on it, but he thought something felt different from the previous evening. For once, he wished he'd become more adept at reading a room.

He wavered for a moment. This morning was initiation. The headmistress had been frustratingly vague as to what that would entail. Was he supposed to stay in the hall until something happened, or venture outside, or search for clues somewhere, or was he already behind by not exploring last night, or... No.

Citrine closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Then he breathed out, opening his eyes and taking a moment to watch the dust motes dancing in the sunlight. If he was to be a Darksbane, he could not panic every time the path forward was unclear. Perhaps this was the first test: figure out where and what initiation was.

Alright. He might not be the most perceptive regarding humans, but he doubted a test of their abilities could be done within the confines of this room. That meant the next step, whatever it was, was not in this hall. So, Rin followed an initiate through the doors. Thankfully, it led to lockers where Rin was able to collect his spear and light armor.

Rin gripped the silvery handle of his spear and relaxed a fraction. Here was one thing that would not let him down. One thing he could trust to be with him.

Armed, Rin stepped outside.



The path that led to the concrete clearing was beautiful. Rin had admired the light illuminating the leaves as he walked, stepping carefully through the dappled patches of shadow on the ground.

Unfortunately, the supposed site of initiation was less so. Rin held on to the backpack he was given and surveyed the metal squares as the headmistress spoke. Surely the metal squares did something interesting, because a simple arena like this seemed... underwhelming for such a prestigious academy. Unless they were to fight each other?

"...Each key is split in half, and will require a partner to complete." What? Rin did a double-take. A partner. They had to... work together to find both halves of the key? He heard the noise level rise as people around him started looking for partners. Silently, he half-wished they'd be fighting each other instead.

As the headmistress finished her speech, he lifted his gaze from the ground and scanned the crowd. How had so many of them paired up so quickly? Two guys were chatting loudly to his left. A girl wove through the crowd and linked arms with another initiate. Rin looked from face to face, rooted to the ground as he imagined the prospect of going up and talking to one of them.

Then he spotted someone who looked a bit like a patch of frost on an otherwise spotless window. She seemed... rougher, somehow. Not jumping to find a partner like some others were, but not standing timidly like the rest. Rin stared at her, trying to figure out if she'd be an acceptable partner, and if so, how in the world he'd walk up and start a conversation. Surely he couldn't start rambling on about barrel vaults and photosynthesis...

Just then, she caught him staring, and narrowed her eyes, not-so-subtly looking him up and down. She looked to be a good few inches shorter than him, with shaggy black hair and a scar-covered face. Despite her skinniness, she gave off an intimidating aura. Like a temple hewn straight from a cliff face.

Rin blinked. Should he smile? Wave? In the end he ended up doing a strange combination of a grimace and a hand flop. Smiling... was harder than it seemed. But still, it seemed like enough of an invitation to walk over. Unless he was completely misinterpreting this and she actually wanted him to go away, or worse, was looking at someone behind him... Before he could overthink it more, he was within a few paces of the other initiate. "Hello. Nice trees here, eh?"

She watched him for a second longer, then said, "Yeah."

Rin bobbed his head. Yeah. Well, at least it seemed like he wouldn't have to scramble to come up with responses and carry on a conversation. Straight to the point, then. "Want to work together?"

She considered him, then turned to face him fully, crossing her arms. "What weapon do you use?"

"A spear." Rin indicated the spear he'd strapped across his back. "You?" He glanced behind her, noting that a little over half the students had paired up by now. If she wasn't going to accept, would he have to approach someone else? He did not relish the idea.

"Knuckle knives," she said dismissively. "Are you good?"

Rin almost laughed. "I'm at Lux." He reflected on the various bribery scandals that academies had had. "Ah. Actually, that doesn't say much. Yes, I hope so."

She gave a short nod. "I'm Una."

Right. Names. "Rin." Rin shifted his stance. "Just to be clear... partners?" He thought he'd passed her test (maybe), but he couldn't be sure, and he hated not knowing where he stood.

She nodded again. "Yeah."

Rin nodded back, breathing an internal sigh of relief. Alright. What else did they need to know about each other? "Attunement?" he asked. "I'm Light, though I'm not the most adept at using it on others."

"Obsidian," she replied. "I make fog."

Fog. "Like... the weather?"

"Like smoke," she said. "Only you can still breathe."

Well, that explained everything. "I know what fog is, thanks." Rin shook his head. "I'd just never heard of Obsidian doing that before."

"My sister made it up," she said absent-mindedly, eyes scanning the other initiates, like she was also sizing them up.

Rin was mildly surprised to find that he had more questions. But this person seemed to dislike conversations at least as much as he did, so he swallowed them and lapsed into silence, scanning the terrain instead. They were both standing on steel plates. Perhaps they had some kind of mechanism in them to... do what? Launch them into the air? Trap them?

He was still pondering that when the plates opened up and gulped them down.

The light of the morning sun left him as he plummeted down some kind of tube. After a brief moment of panic from sheer surprise, Malachite crossed his arms against his chest and ducked his head down as best as he could. The chute or slide he was in curved suddenly to the left, jerking his body as he barreled down the cliffside. After a bit, the metal morphed to earth, soft earth mixed with sharper bits, like rocks and chunks of dirt that stuck out only a bit from what was supposed to be a smooth way down.

A particularly sharp bit grazed against his thigh. It would have drawn blood if his aura had not automatically sparked to life. It still hurt, but not enough to damage him. He felt the natural and familiar tug as his inward soul and magic twisted outward. The darkness around him faded away as his pure white aura washed over his skin, like a second skin of its own.

The bottom of the chute opened out and Chite tumbled out of it, his face entering an unfortunate meeting with grass. He spat it out and clambered to his feet. Immediately, his eyes darted around, assessing the situation he had now found himself in.

He was dumped out along the cliff edge deeper into the forest than where he was at the top. The grass was neatly trimmed by the cliff with barely any foliage larger than that, indicating it was maintained by presumably the Academy.

A few feet past the cliff wall though, the forest began in earnest. The trees were thin and tall, and leaves only started high above the forest floor, but its imprint shadowed the forest almost completely. The wind whistled through the trees, conducting a silent symphony that only just tickled his ears. It was quiet enough that he noticed a rustling off to his right, and he noticed a blur go into the forest. Was it another initiate? Whatever it was, it did not get any closer to him, so there was no danger yet.

After he was able to calm himself enough, his surroundings became more tangible and that was when he noticed his assigned backpack on the ground next to him. It had unlatched itself from his arm at some point during the descent.

He opened the backpack and scanned its contents. There were two water bottles: one full and one empty, a spool of thick rope, a rugged knife, a flashlight, a flare, and the emergency whistle that the Headmistress spoke of during her presentation. He searched the other pockets of the backpack but there was nothing else. With everything in it, this backpack felt more like something one would pack for a hike than for something like initiation. He took out the flashlight once more and slung the backpack around his arm. He entered the forest.



If he hadn't just been outside where the sun was shining just minutes ago, he could have been convinced that it was actually nighttime with the amount of sunlight that the canopy of leaves far above his head let through. The flashlight had become immediately useful as he trudged through the woods. Even though there was little light reaching the forest floor, there was plenty enough vegetation to continuously trip Chite up as he made his way. Thankfully, he was used to thick snow in Whyndsor so it wasn't the worst. He would not get used to the gross feeling of just being so wet. The plants, the bushes, the vines, they were all doused in water. They weren't just wet, though, they were slick and slimy on top of it. Even the bark of the threes had a coat of gross... sludge that caused Chite's spine to shiver every time he touched it. He doubted he would ever get his hands clean after this was all over.

After far too much walking, Chite heard babbling water. Sure enough, he found a small creek that inched through the forest. The pleasant sound was a nice change of pace from the almost nothingness that occupied the forest, save the faint rustling of leaves. Chite took a break and knelt beside the small river, making sure to scrub his hands clean of the muck of the forest in the crystal clear water. It was cool to the touch and his fingertips tingled in response to it. It reminded him of snowball fights when he was younger, before it all got too complicated. Malachite scrubbed and scrubbed at his palms, scratching against his skin with his fingernails. He looks upriver. It babbled against rocks and twists and turns, before gradually disappearing uphill. It would be good to get some kind of vantage point. Even if he wasn't able to view everything clearly due to the canopy, it would help orient him.

Eventually, he stood and began the journey uphill. The creek had been around there for awhile, it seemed, as it had drudged up thick and heavy stone that the water curled around. It took a bit of maneuvering, but Chite followed the creek by stepping on the stones instead of the sludgy mud that extended past the water's edge. He already felt filthy, so it was far better in his mind to navigate uphill this way. He couldn't get himself to look at his pants.

It took a bit of time, but the creek widened out. He heard the waterfall before he saw it. It wasn't anything huge like the ones he saw on vacation, but it poured out into a pond. that was fairly deep. Amazingly, it was crystal clear, too. He could see the odd tiny fish dart around if he concentrated enough.

Unfortunately for him, the hill had only begun and got steep past the waterfall. It seemed his idea about trying to get a vantage point was pointless. It would take more time and energy than to traverse the rest of the incline for what might not even help him out. He groaned, letting his frustration out in a seething exhale.

Someone slid down from above, and once seeing Chite, slowed down to talk to him. "Howdy."

Oh, joy. Rather than start off on the wrong foot, Chite flashed a natural smile. After all, he had to have someone on his side to get out. "Greetings. Did you find anything of value in that direction?" He pointed past the waterfall.

"Just a slick way to get back down." He got to his feet, not bothering to wipe the sludge off his clothes. He did try to get the sludge off of his hands, wiping them off on the part of his pants that wasn't slime-covered yet. "You find anything?"

Malchite's patience had been tested over and over again in the past day, and it was just his luck that he was handed another annoyance with nothing to offer during initiation. "Good," he seethed under his breath. "Great. No," he said louder, "nothing yet. So far this has been an exceptional waste of my time."

"The first day usually is. Gotta survive it to get through the rest though." He shrugged.

"How helpful..." Chite muttered. He glanced around. He would have to bypass the hill then, as it was getting too high to justify scaling it. How far did he actually get to by this point? It was difficult to judge how much time had passed without being able to gauge the sun.

"By the way, what's your name?" The boy asked, brushing his hair back with a hand and adjusting his bandana to keep his hair out of his face.

Chite stopped his internal monologue and steered his attention back to the boy, who was acting so nonchalant it almost broke Chite's composure completely. For a moment, he was too stunned to speak, mostly by his own actions. He forced himself to relax, untensing his shoulders. He was on alert and for what? The most life he had seen were fish. And this person asking for his name.

"Malachite. Chite," he finally spoke. "Malachite Sterling. And you are?"

"Mica Avé, nice to meet you." He smiled.

"Well, Mica, I came from that way," he said, pointing downriver, "and I'm assuming you came from that direction. Did you get a good vantage point of further into the forest?"

"Not much. With how dark it is, might as well walk where we haven't."

"That is quite helpful." Could he have stumbled upon a less useful person in initiation?

"Glad to have been able to put my omnipresence and all-knowing wisdom to use." Mica gave a dramatic, medieval bow.

"Just what I need. Sarcasm. All the while we're in this forest with who knows what--"

They were interrupted by a high trill. The noise felt like it traveled from his ears, down his jaw and into his spine. His aura flashed to life, and Mica's did the same. Mica took his whip from his whipkeeper on his hip. He flexed his fingers and his sword extended out. The screech sent his heart pounding. It sounded like it had come from all around them. With his free hand, he scanned the forest line with his flashlight. Every shadow seemed to dance around the light, mocking his fears and singing along to the thud of his heart.

He saw it before his flashlight settled on it. The tree looked wilted, and was clearly dead. It stood out from the rest of the forest like a bruise on a fruit.

A set of black wings sprouted from behind the rotting tree, the ends of them rounded and almost translucent. Then, a second set of black wings popped out, this one smaller than the set above it but still spanning far from the tree itself. Above the wings, a mask peeked out from behind the tree and looked right at Chite. Its eyes were hollow, soulless, and piercing orange. The Voidborn tilted its face as it stared, its expression solemn and unchanging.

Then it charged.

Angel couldn't believe his luck. This was the second time in the span of twenty-four hours that he'd landed on his head in a heap. The universe was against him again.

With a groan, Angel pulled himself up off the ground, wiping the dirt from his clothes. He surveyed the area, spinning in a small circle to take in his surroundings. A gloomy forest. How exotic. Angel moved away from the cliff wall and adjusted the strap of his backpack.

He was surprised to find he was alone, especially considering that he was surrounded by the other initiates just moments ago. More importantly, he didn't see Pyr in sight. They'd agreed to be partners, hadn't they? Where was she?

Hesitantly, Angel stepped further into the forest, craning his neck to search through the foliage. "Pyr?" he called out. No response.

Okay, so he was on his own. That was fine. If he couldn't find Pyrope, he could just pair up with someone else. Hopefully, they had been smart enough to bring a weapon to Lux, because Angel hadn't. But, really, why did everyone else think it was a good idea to bring a weapon to a school? Sounded dangerous to him. Then again, that same school just dropped him down a chute and stranded him in a dark forest.

Angel sighed as he continued walking. He gripped the straps of his backpack as he walked, forcing himself to stand up straighter. He kept his gaze up, eyes scanning the trees for signs of other initiates. It would have been so much easier if Pyr had already been with him. "It's fine," he muttered to himself.

He only needed to walk a few more steps before he caught sight of another initiate. The crease between his brows relaxed, and a smirk easily slipped onto his features. He wound his way through the trees, approaching the blonde-haired girl. "Hey there!" he called out.

The girl snapped her head toward him, eyes wide. He stopped a few feet away from her, letting his hands fall from his backpack straps and relax against his sides. The girl stared at Angel, her expression guarded. It seemed like she was just as alone as he was. And she had a sheathed knife attached to her hip. At least she was more prepared than he was.

Angel considered the girl. "You wanna pair up?"

"Yeah, that'd be great," the girl breathed out in relief, a small smile on her lips. "I'm Opal."

Angel nodded. "Angel. Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, nice to meet you, too." Opal put her hands on her hips with an air of confidence. "Alright! Let's get through initiation."



"We're not making it through initiation," Opal sobbed.

Angel closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to take a minute to wonder how Opal even got accepted into Lux. Of all the things that could have brought her to the ground in tears, it was a twisted ankle. Though from how bruised it already was, he guessed it was closer to being broken.

No, you're not making it through initiation, is what Angel wanted to say. But he didn't. He simply stood over Opal, arms crossed, as she continued to hyper-ventilate. He knew he was soon to be without a partner---again---but there was no chance that Angel was going to carry her around the entire time, listening to her whine about how much her ankle hurt.

Opal started frantically digging through her backpack. She tossed various items to the ground, hands shaking as she produced the silver whistle they had all been given in case of emergencies.

Angel's eyes widened. "You're not serious, are you?"

Opal shot Angel a glare. "This is stupid and cruel. I'm getting out of here."

She blew the whistle as loud as she could. Angel fought the urge to plug his ears. Instead, he crouched down, gathering the things Opal had thrown out of her backpack in a frenzy. "Well, if you're not going to use it," he muttered, shoving the supplies in his own backpack.

He quickly turned on his heel without a second glance, walking away from Opal before the rescue team thought he wanted out, too. He guessed the situation wasn't all too bad. He got some supplies out of the short-lived partnership.

Angel smirked. And he got a weapon. Angel unsheathed the knife he'd taken from Opal. He didn't think she'd noticed when he snatched it from her hip. His eyebrows raised as he inspected the knife. Well, now he was glad Opal hadn't noticed him take it. The knife was well-balanced and looked to be rather extravagant---probably hand-forged. Angel squinted at the handle. It had been inlaid with opals. Angel couldn't help but roll his eyes to the back of his head. How self-centered could one spoiled initiate get?

Angel resheathed the knife and attached it to his hip. Knives weren't his preferred weapon, but it would do. He was glad it was a blade of some sort---at least the girl hadn't been carrying around a bow.

Not even a moment later, a faint rustling sound could be heard amidst the branches and bushes, as if something or someone was rapidly approaching. There was a faint noise of metal clinking, but otherwise, everything seemed normal. Too normal.

Angel quickly redrew the knife, turning to face the source of the noise. He steadied himself, eyes focused on the direction the sound had come from. Angel squinted, trying to spot what was lurking in the bushes.

All that there was in response was more rustling, and it was getting louder. Much louder. Whatever was making the noise, it clearly wasn't playing any games.

Angel tensed. He didn't dare move, but his eyes flitted around the area, trying to pinpoint the location of the thing moving through the forest. Oh gods, he hoped it was just a small woodland creature. Maybe a squirrel. Or a hedgehog.

Finally, it showed itself. Angel instantly relaxed, resheathing his knife with a sigh. It was another initiate. Not his unavoidable doom.

"You've gotta be kidding," Angel muttered, thoroughly unamused as he stared at the boy, watching as he lowered the rifle that he had been holding.

"...Oh. You were not making that... noise. I thought that someone was getting mauled or something." The boy shook his head.

A bark of laughter escaped Angel's mouth. "No, but from the way the girl was crying, one would think so," he said dryly, pointing back toward the direction he had just come from. "I think she broke her ankle, though. Or something like that."

"Hm." The boy sized him up. "Well, I believe introductions are in order. I am Sodalite Soleanos, but you can call me Dali."

Angel nodded in a curt greeting. "Right. I'm Angel. And you can call me Angel. You don't have a partner yet?"

Dali made an almost-chuckle sound. "I prefer to work alone. It's easier to shoot something from afar, and rely on myself, than have to coordinate with a second person."

Angel narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips. "Right, right. You do know we have to partner up to pass, right? Did you not listen to the speech at all?"

"I was listening. However, none of the people I had encountered were... sufficient, to say the least." Dali finnicked with one of the bullets in the rifle's chamber.

Angel just stared at Dali with a raised brow. He couldn't believe the boy was willing to risk not passing initiation just because he "liked to work alone." Angel shook his head.

"So do you want to partner up or not?" Angel asked bluntly.

"I suppose you will prove at least somewhat useful." Dali extended his hand.

Angel just stared at Dali's hand. So the boy thought he was better than everyone else. Well, that would make sense if he thought everyone else so far was "not sufficient." Angel looked Dali up and down skeptically, reluctantly shaking his hand. Angel forced a bright smile on his face.

"Well, hopefully things work out better for you than my last partner!" Angel said cheerfully.

Sparks shot up in the darkness, each one providing just a bit of light in the pitch black chute which was made of dirt and stones and who knew what else that couldn't be seen. The platform underneath Pyrope had dropped abruptly, giving her no time to prepare but luckily her armor had protected her from the initial fall and now scraped, screeching, against random rocks that could have hurt her otherwise as she slid down strategically on her back. Hopefully her sword was alright.

Suddenly, the tunnel took a sharp turn and she slammed hard against the wall. It wasn't enough to break anything but it would leave quite a few bruises, probably dark ones, all over her left shoulder, hip, and maybe one on her cheek too. After that, the tunnel became even more rough and jagged; it didn't seem like it could decide which way to go, jostling Pyrope this way and that. Roots and stones scraped her skin where her steel chestplate, braces, and greaves didn't protect and it took an immense amount of focus for her to keep her aura from kicking in and automatically healing them.

It's not like it's going to kill you. A stern voice echoed in her mind. She could nearly hear the annoyance in it. It's just a scrape, toughen up. If you use up your aura on a bunch of little stuff you're going to have none left for a big injury. Then you'll really die.

Pyrope could envision it, the day those words were said to her. She was young, still in Feren after finding out her family's past. The weekend had rolled around and she had time off but per usual, wasn't allowed to stay at home as her parents wanted nothing to do with her. She'd managed to track down a contact, a disgraced darksbane who had tried to privately train her father. He had failed in the long run as her father chose a different path but he was the best thing she had to a private trainer to get a better insight into what her future would be as a darksbane.

His training was harsh, relentless even, and what ever she seemed to be taught at Feren seemed to be wrong. Where she was taught to use her aura, he told her not to, to endure the pain until she was sure it would hamper her ability otherwise. That was only for healing but shielding was similar. Everything was based on skill; there was no luck in combat. Shielding with one's aura was only in a life or death situation, when you couldn't avoid being hit and it would kill you if you were.

The scars on her arms and legs from natural healing when she couldn't sneak in using her aura always reminded her of those lessons and while she didn't like to remember them, they were important lessons she had learned. Apparently they'd have to be put into effect now too as the sides of the tunnel scraped past her arms and legs, making plenty of little hairline cuts and rashes under her clothes.

A bright light snapped her from her memories as the chute ended and daylight approached, blinding as she braced for a landing. She was dropped, stumbling slightly, but managed not to land on her face luckily enough. As soon as she gained her footing, she instantly surveyed the area. In front of her was a forest, beneath her feet a strip of grass that seemed no more then a landing zone, and behind her a sheer cliff, one that she wouldn't be able to climb even if she tried. Guess getting a vantage point was out of the question.

Strangely enough though, there was no one else around. She was all alone. She bit her lips slightly, brow furrowed. This didn't make sense. She had been right next to Angel, on the plate beside him before they dropped. They had agreed to go through this together and now she was alone.

"Angel!" She tried to call, her vice echoing off the cliff before being muffled by the trees, "Angel!" However, she was answered only by silence.

A feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach as she remembered he hadn't brought a weapon and therefore didn't have one for initiation. That was the main reason why she wanted to go with him, to make sure he didn't get hurt, she'd made a vow to protect-

No. I have to stay focused. He's strong, even without a weapon. I've seen that firsthand.

Pyrope frowned and looked to the trees. Maybe she'd be able to find him. If she knew Angel at all, he was probably already charging recklessly into the forest to find the clearing and his obsidian key. She needed to do the same. Snatching up the backpack that had fallen beside her in her landing, she slipped one of the straps over her shoulders and began making her way into the forest.

As soon as she entered, her surroundings became dim, almost as dim as dusk or night, the sun blocked by the thousands of trees and their leaves. No wonder the keys had been placed in a clearing. It would have been near impossible to find something the same shade as the shadows.

Continuing to trek on with still no other initiates in sight, Pyr's stomach growled loudly and she realized just how hungry she was beginning to get. She hadn't eaten anything the night before and was beginning to realize what a mistake that had been. While she had woken up decently early that morning, all of the food had already disappeared along with the table. Now, she was just going to have to starve until they decided to feed her next, or she found something edible in the forest. That however was unlikely; foraging had never been her strong suit.

Out of the corner of her eye, something streaked past in the trees. It was dark, much darker then the surrounding forest and that could only mean one thing as she remembered the events the night before:

Voidborn.

As long as she could keep it from noticing her, she'd be okay. Scratch that; she could already feel its eyes on her from wherever it lurked in the trees, watching, waiting. As long as she could keep it from gaining too much interest in her, maybe it's leave her alone. They were attracted to magic and since she hadn't used any of her aura during the way down, hopefully that would make her less of a target.

Keeping a careful eye on the trees, she kept walking. The dark flashes seemed to become more frequent as she kept going, and closer. Paranoia crept down her spine as her sixth sense went wild, screaming that she was being watched not only by any something, but something dangerous. She didn't like this feeling of being hunted, exactly why she had never liked hide and seek much as a child unless she was the seeker, but this was much worse. Darksbane were supposed to meet voidborn head on, weren't they? That was part of their glory she had always imagined, the epic battles, fighting the beasts face to face to keep their attention. This wasn't any of that and a tiny part of her whispered that she wasn't ready.

Stay focused. She tried to mentally reassure herself. My friends are here somewhere. I just have to find them. I'm ready. I just need to find them.

As if by some sort of miracle, someone appeared out of the trees just ahead. The girl very nearly blended in with the darkness, making her hard to spot but she was definitely there and not what had been hunting her. It wasn't one of her friends, but she would be soon enough if they both made it through this together. Someone was at least better then no one.

A dark flash whisked by out of the corner of her eye, darker then the shadows, threateningly close.

This girl would only be a companion if she stayed alive and the voidborn didn't get her.

Pyrope had to get to her first.

As Una fell, the main thought on her mind was that she was extremely happy she wasn't wearing her knuckle knives on her fingers. This was further reinforced when she finally reached the end of the tunnel and slammed into the ground. In her pockets, the knuckle knives pressed into her skin and she hissed, feeling them slice through the fabric into her thighs. Still-- better they weren't on her fingers, which would have all broken with the impact if they'd been encased in the metal.

The next thought on her mind when she struggled to stand was that this was like nothing she'd ever seen. Before her, stretching for as far as she could see, stood tall, lush trees, so thick that their branches and leaves blocked out the trickling sunlight and covered the ground in darkness. Una's breath caught in her throat as she dusted off the knees of her pants and stared, mouth hanging open.

It was gorgeous.

She'd never seen plants so big, so green. Flenting had its spare speckling of trees and plants, of course, but they rarely got enough water, and they all seemed as cracked as the sidewalks they grew between. This, though-- this was wild and raw and overwhelmingly powerful in a way that made Una's heart thrum. This was what Flenting should be like, buried beneath trees. Shaded, and bright green.

She glanced around, taking in the foliage, and the shorter, sturdier plants with darker green leaves, pointy and sharp, sitting at the bases of the giants around them. She'd probably feel more thrilled about it if she hadn't just managed to lose the one person she thought she might be able to stomach working with. What was his name? Reen? Rin? Close enough.

"Rin?" Una called out, hesitating as she surveyed the forest. No response. She called out again. "Rin?" She waited, but there was nothing besides the distant chirping of insects to answer her.

She thought on the boy she had just agreed to partner up with, and how had potentially lost forever. He'd been a bit awkward, with his unwavering gaze and his weird waving-hand-flop-thing--whatever that had been--, but it wasn't like Una was the most regular person out there. Plus, he'd approached her, which felt like a good sign. At the very least, there was one person here who didn't think of her as a pest. Well... there had been at least one person here who didn't think of her as a pest. Now, that assumption was completely out the window.

She thought about the other initiates she'd seen that morning and the previous night. Some had looked absolutely ridiculous in their fancy clothing, and others, genuine but naive. Even so, none of them looked like her. None of them looked like they'd come from places like her, and all of them looked like they'd been to some sort of professional magic school. She hadn't even fully considered the possibility that not just her appearance and background, but also her style of magic could single her out. But even with Rin, when she'd said she made fog and that her sister had invented the technique, he'd seemed more startled than anything. Even to him, she was different, and not in a good way. The rats are back.

She rolled her neck as she looked at the forest warily. Maybe it wasn't as comforting as it initially seemed. She would stick out here, too--and no matter how natural it looked, this was Lux's forest. Anything could happen in here, and nobody outside of the initiates and the staff would know.

Still, Una was never one to turn away from a challenge like this, and with her fog, she was used to walking in the near dark. She'd seen the flashlight in the backpack, but didn't feel like she would need it--not yet, at least. Even as the leaves blocked out most of the sun, small slivers still survived, lived enough to crawl their way through to her.

Hm. Maybe the forest wasn't so different from Flenting after all.

On that uncomfortable thought, Una set out into the trees, careful to watch the ground as she walked. The farther she entered the forest, the darker it got. She didn't mind the darkness, though. She was quite used to navigating it with her fog, and she was pretty certain others would be struggling in it, which meant she had the advantage. As she walked, she passed clumps of flowers and weeds, and spotted the occasional wild animal sprinting away at the sound of her. The animals were masterful at their silent maneuvering through the forest, and as she continued forward, Una found herself thinking more and more about them-- what their life must be like, in the near darkness. She tried to watch their feet as the fled to figure out how they were silent, without even the breeze against the foliage to give them away. She wanted to copy them, to become silent and deadly and absolutely, completely invisible.

Again, maybe the forest wasn't so different from home after all.

Suddenly, Una stopped in her tracks. In the distance, she could hear leaves rustling and twigs snapping underfoot. She listened, tilting her head in the direction of the sounds and shutting her eyes to concentrate. It didn't sound like two people... And then, she heard the sound of someone tripping, followed by a curse as, presumably, they fell flat on their face.

Well, if Una needed a partner to get out of here, she might as well check out the noise--especially if she couldn't count on happening across Rin. She wasn't entirely keen on someone who was falling in a forest when they had a flashlight, but it could be worse. They could be an Upper.

Una paused for a moment. Actually, an Upper could also be the person tripping in the forest. She sighed but continued towards them anyway. If they were an Upper, she could always leave them and find someone else.

She made no attempts to hide her noise or movements as she approached, and soon, she saw a head snap up, looking eerily in her direction, but with their eyes peering over her shoulder. She grimaced and shivered a little, tamping down the feeling of uneasiness.

"Una!" It was Rin, his face caked with mud, leaves stuck in his indigo hair, and his armor and himself looking quite the worse for wear. For a moment, he looked as if he were about to cry, but then he swept his arm over his face. It only smeared the mud around more.

Una grimaced again. Well, she was strangely happy to have found him, but a wave of-- something. Disappointment, maybe?--also washed over her as she watched him try harder to get the mud off his face and only cover himself more in it. Gods, she was actually partnered up. She never would've expected to have had a partner in a challenge like this, and she hadn't expected it from initiation either. She'd rarely been in situations where fighting in pairs was necessary.

And her partner in question was also the person who managed to fall flat on his face while holding a flashlight that perfectly illuminated everything. Una took a deep breath. Well... Ups and downs. "You're a mess," she said.

Rin finally gave up on cleaning his face and rescued his now non-functioning flashlight from the mud next to him. He frowned at it, dropped it in his backpack, and nodded resignedly. "I've learned that vines are to be avoided, no matter how much they look like runes decorating an ancient temple." He dug around in the mud some more and pulled out his spear, which was no longer a shiny silver. Rin wiped the spear on his pants with questionably successful results. "And obsidian keys are good at hiding."

"Maybe you're just bad at looking for them," Una said wryly as she extended a hand to him and pulled him off the ground.

Rin stared above Una's head and shrugged. "That could be true." He wiped the spear on a tree, which was slightly more useful in cleaning the mud off the tip. "Have you had any luck?"

"I haven't been looking for one," Una said. "Can't get out of here without a partner, so it didn't seem like there was a point in looking without one."

Rin nodded. He looked around, squinting in the darkness. Mud slowly dripped down his spear and clothes. Well, perhaps it'd be good camouflage. He pointed behind him and said, "I came from there, and there was nothing but trees and vines and other lovely natural things that are not keys. So, which direction now?"

Una surveyed the forest, squinting into the darkness, looking for the small pockets of the light. "That way," she said decisively. "It's darker. That means it's going deeper into the forest, right?"

Rin mulled it over. "Seems logical enough."

With that, the two of them set off in that direction. They didn't make small talk, but Rin seemed alright with that, and Una certainly was. It was too important to be talking right now--she had to be able to think and process the environment around her, and she knew she always got sloppy when she was distracted by talking. Another reason she didn't do much of it--she always needed to be alert and on guard. Chatting about where you grew up and how many siblings you had and how many fights you'd been in was definitely not being on guard.

As they walked, Rin's eyes finally seemed to adjust to the darkness, which was good, because Una didn't like the idea of pulling out their one remaining flashlight and sending a beam out for the world to see exactly where they were. Flashlights were a perfect way to draw attention, and she had no doubt that was why they'd been included in their bags. It made the likelihood of running into each other more likely.

Nope. Not for Una. She fought regularly enough on her own, with her ability being the difference between food on the table and that month's rent. She wasn't eager to have her admittance to Lux Academy be dependent on that too. She could beat the shit out of someone if she needed to, but right now, she was more than content with just walking and searching for keys until they both got to leave and return to the surface world, or wherever Lux was in relation to where they were now.

Just as her thoughts began to wander to the architecture of Lux again and how insane it was that students got to live in a place like that when dozens of families she knew were sharing a single room and starving half to death, Rin hit his head on a branch. And an arrow whizzed by, millimeters from his face, just where he would've been if he hadn't met the branch.

Rin froze, his rust-colored eyes wide. He looked towards where the arrow had come from. Una's head snapped in that direction. "Get down," she hissed, and crouched, searching the eyeline of trees. The arrow had flown straight, which meant they weren't above them. Whoever it was, they were on their level.

Rin dropped to the ground. There was silence in the forest for a moment.

Then someone grumbled, "Great, you missed."

A smaller voice responded, "Sorry! I didn't expect them to stop suddenly like that-"

"Hold up!" A voice snapped, higher-pitched than the other two, and indescribably haughty. "I recognize that person, wait," the voice said gleefully. "Don't shoot, don't shoot. Hey!" They called out, and Una could see someone with long, purple hair raising an arm in the air and waving it back and forth. "Are you Una the One?"

Una felt a wave of disgust push through her stomach--particularly since she didn't recognize the person, and nobody in the rings called each other their stage names, which meant this had to be an audience member. Upper. A part of her wanted to shout back, "Nope! That person doesn't actually exist," and another part of her didn't want to respond at all. Next to her though, Rin's face wrinkled in confusion tinted with nervousness as he glanced back and forth between the strangers and Una. "Who's asking?" he replied. He stared at the three who were pushing their way through the forest, closer to Una and Rin.

The person in front, who seemed to be acting as their leader, flashed their teeth. "Name's Sphene, she/they. I'm a big fan." She turned back to one of the others, a tall and well-built person with dark hair, save for a bright streak of green. "She's one of the ones I was telling you about, Dotty," she said. "She's one of the best out there. I mean, for a cage fighter, obviously. How'd you wind up somewhere so far from Flenting? Do they even pay you enough to afford the application fee?"

Every word sounded so natural and unassuming, as if it wasn't an insanely insulting thing to say. Of course they didn't pay her enough for an application fee--that's why she hadn't had to pay one. And on top of that, to insinuate she was only good for a cage fighter, coming from someone dressed in elaborate, expensive clothes, who had clearly never had an unrigged fight in their life. "I've already got a partner, thanks," Una said, grinding her teeth. "Goodbye."

Dotty smirked. "That keen on getting rid of us?" Their third companion, a shorter initiate carrying an elaborate bow, shifted a bit as if they were trying to fade into the background.

"You have to pay extra for the meet and greet," Una deadpanned.

Sphene's smile faltered, before it twisted into a smirk. "Yes! See? This is exactly how she is. Oh my gods, it's like the real matches. It's crazy how expressive you can be without saying anything in there, I mean, I don't think I'd ever heard you speak but somehow that is exactly what you would say."

Una watched her confusedly and warily. Of course it was what she would say. She'd just said it. Something about this air of enthusiasm felt tainted though, and Una found herself analyzing the types of weapons they had, as well as the environment around them--where they could run. Next to her, Rin tightened his grip on his spear.

Dotty rolled his eyes. "Enough fangirling, Sphene. Are we going to fight them or not?"

Sphene rolled her eyes in return, which Una was now realizing had jewels next to them, like some kind of elaborate makeup, or maybe permanent piercings. "Yeah, duh. All I'm saying is that you have something to learn from it."

"Hmph. Alright." Dotty twirled his sword casually, the dim light still managing to reflect off the gemstones embedded in the hilt.

Sphene turned back to Una one last time. "I really am a huge fan," they confided. "I've been seeing your shows for forever, since you were in the lower divisions. You're like a household name for my family." They smiled cheerfully, but their eyes were sharp and dead. "I've always wanted to see if I could beat you."

Rin still hadn't gotten over the fact that he'd been one branch away from getting a hole through his face. He knew their skills couldn't be measured in a perfectly safe environment, and there were the whistles in their packs, and their auras, but-- this still seemed too close for comfort. If the arrow had been off by a few centimeters, he could have gotten a hole through his brain instead, and he wasn't certain his aura could heal that. Weren't there rules against deadly attacks? Some guidelines people had to follow?

For example, he thought no unnecessary fighting would be a good one. These three hadn't expressed any interest in keys at all. Sphene had just... recognized Una from cagefights? And now they were approaching Rin and Una, and their eyes were glittering with a kind of bloodlust Rin was unprepared to confront, and Rin was questioning every single decision that had led to him being here, in this seemingly unstructured Initiation, not even certain he would make it and be able to train as a Darksbane. If that was even still what he wanted to do. It was, right? ...Right.

Citrine breathed in, and out. Solutions. What options did they have? He could create a minor illusion with Light, but would that even help? Somehow he doubted they could run, judging by how Sphene had zeroed in on Una. So... was a fight the only choice? "I can take Dotty?" he whispered to Una. "Watch out for the third, though."

Beside him, Una sighed. He watched as she slipped her hands into her pockets and pulled out a pair of metal knuckle knives. Rin hadn't even been certain he'd known what that was when Una had mentioned it upon their meeting, but now that Rin was staring at them, he realized they were really a very succinct description of what he was looking at. "Honestly, I'm not really looking to fight right now," Una said annoyedly.

"What a bore," Dotty sneered.

The third person, who had stayed silent up until that point, chimed in, "Yeah. Fighting's what we're here for."

Rin thought that was rather an oversimplification and possibly a misinterpretation of the purpose of Darksbanes, but he also thought it wouldn't be a good idea to point that out right now.

"Come on," Sphene complained. "You're paid to do it all day back in Flenting."

"Paid is a key word in that sentence," Una muttered. "In Flenting is another one."

Apparently fed up with the conversation, Dotty simply rolled his eyes and lunged forward to attack. His blade flashed through the air towards Rin-- was he letting Sphene take Una?--and Rin deflected with his spear, acting on instinct.

"Go on," he heard Sphene goad. "You can have the first hit if you want." That sentence was quickly followed by a loud grunt.

"Stupid mistake," Una replied, and he heard her go in for another hit.

Rin had the advantage of a longer reach with his spear, but Dotty was fast, continuously shifting his position and attacking from a different angle. Somehow the third member of their gang managed to avoid hitting Sphene and Dotty, firing arrows that sliced past Rin, distracting him.

The terrain didn't make it easy to concentrate, either. Rin stepped over a root as he parried an attack from Dotty. Mud squished against his boots as he darted forwards to jab at Dotty's side.

Dotty dodged and smirked. "Surely you can try harder than that." He brushed some dirt off his pants casually. His outfit looked almost pristine, a sharp contrast to Rin, who felt more like some monster who'd crawled out from underground with every passing minute in this forest.

After narrowly escaping Dotty's next swing of the sword, Rin bent down and snatched up a fistful of mud. He made as if he was going to strike at Dotty's leg, but just as Dotty moved to block, he reached up and smeared the mud in Dotty's hair instead. Judging by Dotty's care for his appearance, that would hopefully throw him off-

Dotty didn't miss a beat, his facial expression simply morphing into a scowl as he smoothly changed his parry to a swing at Rin's legs. Oh, Elderbeasts. Rin hopped backwards.

And then his heel caught against a root rising from the forest floor, and he was falling backwards, and a dark fog, deep and black and voluminous, was billowing out, rising from somewhere to the right and blocking the little light that had been filtering through the trees, and everything was black through a curling haze.

"Hey!" called Dotty, a slight edge of nervousness entering his voice for the first time.

"Oh my gods!" Sphene said gleefully. "You're doing the thing, that's so exciting! I've been training for how to fight in the dark, you know."

Right. Una had mentioned being able to create fog. Rin tried to breathe quietly, but he was quickly losing control over the speed of his breaths. He'd lost all visual on their opponents, and it seemed like everything had fallen into an oppressive silence. Dotty could be bearing down on him now, sword poised to chop off his head, and Rin wouldn't know. And he couldn't chance running because they might have shifted positions in the time it had taken the fog to suffuse everything and now he'd waited too long still flat on his back on the ground and surely Una was gone by now and he would be outnumbered and doomed to not only fail, but fail painfully...

A hand clapped against his mouth. Rin's heart seemed to burst into a thousand fragments like a stone being dropped off the top of a tower.

He was dragged backwards. Rin wondered if he should scream, but two realizations struck him at the same time-- first, it wouldn't do him any good, and second, it didn't seem like the person was out to harm him. Una?

But it couldn't be Una. Could it? It'd be much faster for her to run away on her own. It didn't make sense to drag him with her.

Rin was still trying to figure it out when abruptly, the person dropped him. Rin hit the ground again, then scrambled up. He could see a faint outline next to him, still moving away from the scene behind them. "Come on," they hissed, and he could hear that it was, in fact, Una's voice. With an internal sigh of relief, Rin hurried to keep up.

They only needed to keep moving for a few more moments before they left the cover of the fog behind them. The forest was revealed in its dim glory once again, slick bushes nestled up against sludge-covered trees.

Rin quickly gave up on wiping away the mud dripping from every part of his body, instead focusing on the questions swirling through his mind. He tried to sort through them, and landed on the most puzzling one: "Why? Why did you save me?"

Una gave him an odd look, massaging her jaw with one of her hands while the other slipped her knuckle knives into her pocket. He tried to ignore that at least one of them was dripping with blood. "We're partners," she said. "I keep my word."

Rin stared at her. Was that the true reason? His father had often given his word that this time, this time they'd all see the genius of his art. This would be his masterpiece, his magnum opus. And his mother would smile and nod, while even Rin--clueless though he usually was--could see that her eyes said she didn't believe him. It never seemed to hurt Rin's mother when the newest sculpture, or painting, or supposedly avant garde exhibition of a single rotting apple core on a banquet table didn't garner any attention. She'd left the spotlight a long time ago. But Rin was a different story.

He couldn't think of any other reasonable explanations for Una's behavior, though. She'd taken a risk for him, when she could have easily escaped and found another partner. Though, he supposed he would have had trouble finding another partner, and perhaps that part wouldn't have been easy for Una either. In any case.... "Thank you," he said. He owed her one now. He wouldn't forget that.

Una frowned while she watched him, but she shrugged and looked forward as she kept walking. "You're welcome."

They lapsed into silence. Rin turned to admiring the trees as he'd done upon entering the forest, viewing them as the arches of some grand natural cathedral. Then he realized he should keep an eye out for any other ambushes, and with an internal sigh, he began to look at the passing trees and plants with a more calculating gaze.

Through it all, he couldn't stop replaying the fight and subsequent events. "How long does the fog last?" he blurted out. "How much does it cost you to make?"

"It'll disappate soon," she said, sending another glance towards him. "I'm holding it out so that hopefully, when I let it go, we aren't in eyesight." Her eyes wandered the trees ahead of them, completely unblocked by the fog which was now entirely behind them like a big cloud. "And for me, it doesn't cost much. But that's all relative, anyway. Plus, I'm not using my magic to heal things that don't need to be healed. It all evens out eventually."

Rin nodded. Then he wondered if the explanation--which she hadn't had to give--warranted a more respectful acknowledgement, and he said, "Understood." He briefly considered adding a thanks, but discarded it as being too much. Would it also be too much if he asked more questions?

Una squinted at him, then sighed. "Go ahead."

Was his curiosity that obvious? Rin gave a small, embarrassed smile. "Seemed like you had some history with Sphene. Er-- if that's too personal, I would also like to know your opinion on our next steps, and what we should do if we encounter other initiates like those three."

Una shook her head. "In terms of next steps, we just need to keep going deep enough into the forest that we find the clearing, don't we?" After a pause, she added, "Also, I have never seen that asshole in my life, but if I saw her again, I wouldn't mind getting in another punch or two."

Rin nodded again. He wondered how other people carried on conversations. Then he thought he ought to acknowledge these answers as well, and said, "Thanks." A moment later, he offered, "If you have any questions for me, feel free to ask."

"I don't," Una said. "But I will if I do."

Once more, Rin nodded. He felt a bit like a flower bobbing in the wind, going back and forth, back and forth.

And so they kept walking.

Between using heelys on rooftops, or getting eaten by a floor and going down it's throat into it's stomach, he preferred the first option. It was smoother to hit the ground rather than zip through plants, dirt, and rocks. Who knew if there were plants there that were poisonous to touch? So far, Mica hadn't became one large walking blister or sore, nor had he combusted. He considered that a good sign. The only remainder of that moment was the dirt taste in his mouth. Guess he knew what it was like to be a cow.

To make it even better, or worse, the forest had a sort of wet, slimy cover. Definitely giving off stomach vibes. What next, a maze of tunnels? That would be the intestines.

Now, he stood with Mr. Snarky-- who he was getting fed up with-- facing a voidborn. He took his whip off of his whipkeeper, and held it coiled in his hand carefully while Chite summoned a sword. Through years of practice he had learned how to avoid stabbing his hands with the barbs when not wearing gloves.

First thought that came to Mica was damn, that's ugly. To make it even more creepy, it tilted its head. He felt the hairs on his arms raise as he and Malachite (look, he started the sarcasm war first) had a staring contest with the voidborn. It was different than the one he had seen before with Angel and Pyr, which would have probably eagerly charged at them and ate them or something.

Just as he thought that, the voidborn charged at them. Without thinking, he lashed his whip at it once it was within range, electricity crackling as it was conducted down its length. He needed to work on managing his thoughts better.

The voidborn shrugged off the attack and spun, its wings slapping the ground right in front of them and tossing up dirt and mud. In a flash, it twisted its body and shadow-y pincers launched at him.

The pincers came so close to his face he could feel the wind of its impact, but Mica was yanked back by Chite, who hissed, "Are you dense? You're going to get yourself killed!" As he swiped a blade attached to his arm, striking the pincers and bouncing off.

Mica shrugged. "Something like that. You got a plan, erudite?"

The voidborn charged at Chite, who ducked and rolled, slicing the beast's underside. The voidborn veered and flew into a tree, blasting through the wood.

"Don't get hit. You'd be a fool trying to attack it head-on. You would have better luck tickling it." Chite took a moment to look around. "We can try to trap it."

"With what?" Mica glanced around momentarily, more focused on the voidborn than he was to find nothing but slimy forest.

"Trees won't work. Boulders. Find something with a gap between two boulders." And with that, Chite dashed into the forest.

Mica dashed after him. He would have cursed, but he found it better to use his air to keep his stamina up. He ran about 11 feet away from Chite, 10 feet to his left, and 5 feet back (which was shortening). Boulders, right. Look for very large rocks.

The Voidborn screeched and trilled, smashing through another tree behind them. Mica turned his head to make a face at it, before he started yelling insults at it. "Hey! Ugly flying twig!"

So no, that wasn't the best insult, but it was attention grabbing. Mica stopped in front of two trees that stood fairly close together and turned to look at the voidborn, walking backwards through the trees as he let the voidborn catch up, hoping that it would slow the voidborn down a little. Once he was fairly sure that the it was headed into the trees, he turned around and continued running. He was rewarded with crackling sounds from the trees behind him.

Chite was following the river downhill. Mica glanced behind them just as the beast lobbed some kind of projectile from the end of its tail. The globule was large, constantly morphing black mass headed straight for him. He jerked his whip, slicing through the ball. It exploded upon impact with some kind of gross black goo that splashed all over him. Immediately, his aura reacted to the goo. The flashes of red and black became more frequent. It felt... draining. Like it fed off of his very aura, which sent chills down his back. He wanted it off. Compared to this, the forest slime was about as sanitary as bleach.

One of Mica's feet stepped through a piece of grass that he thought was stable and turned out very much not, and he lost his balance, tumbling into a nook in the forest whose top had been covered with overgrown vines and roots. The black goo scrubbed off of him and onto the vegetation around him where it withered and dissiapated into some kind of dust that he probably shouldn't be breathing in. He couldn't be happier to be surrounded by vegetation.

A droning sound whined overhead then disappeared. The voidborn had missed his trip and fall. A mere moment later, Chite poked his head into the entrance of the nook. "This could work... but we'll need to lure it in. We'll need bait." He looked at Mica expectedly. Because of course, the stupid guy was suitable for it. Good thing Mica was just that.

"I'll do it."



Mica ran out a little ways away from the nook, and activated his aura. He looked around to see if there was any voidborn charging at him yet. A screech came from above, and Mica glanced just long enough to see it in the upper branches of the trees. Then he started jogging. Once he was sure it had targeted him, he ran. He made sure the voidborn was still following, even if it meant getting dangerously close.

Mica didn't look up as he ran into the nook. He didn't even bother to yell at Chite, as the voidborn made enough sound crashing through everything. He leaped and scrambled up the rock wall that was covered in vegetation. It may have been slimy, but he had been able to make knots superior to the slime. Behind him, he heard rocks crash down and the infuriated scream from the twisted dragonfly looking creature. He didn't look back till he was out of the nook.

He saw a pile of boulders, and no voidborn. His shoulders relaxed... for all of a second before his aura flashed once more, signalling that the voidborn was still there. A shriek followed, something he had never quite heard before, something that screamed foreign and wrong in his ears, and the voidborn's wings burst out from the boulders, cracking one of the in half. The massive voidborn, crafted to be similar to tiny dragonflies in the meadows, had shifted its mask to an expressive of pure anger. Mica hadn't know the mask could shift... but this was a day full of firsts.

Chite emerged from the shade of a nearby tree and regrouped next to him. As the voidborn struggled to remove its abdomen from the boulder trap, Chite glanced at him. "Any ideas?"

Mica shrugged. "Don't ask me, I've run out of my all-knowing wisdom. How do you normally take out a Voidborn?"

Chite's eyebrows furrowed as he thought. "A Voidborn's body is resilient, but if you attack it enough, enough brute force, then the body implodes on itself, leaving just the mask."

"So we pop it. Like a balloon."

"It takes a little more effort than--" Chite's remarks were interrupted as the voidborn broke through the thick roots of the forest, its body fully free. The tip of its abdomen, or... its tail? Mica never really paid attention in biology. Although, what could biology teach about a black mass. Anyway, its tail flicked back and forth like a cat when it was agitated, although this tail was spitting out bubbling black goop that got everywhere. The leaves and vegetation hissed in contact with the good, curling under itself as it died.

Chite charged first, before the voidborn did, and flipped over a lob of voidborn poison, landing back on his feet and slicing through the air. The slice was electrified from his aura, from Spark, and the projectile slammed into the voidborn's body. The impact of the burst of Spark sent the voidborn crashing out of the boulder "trap", now fully freeing it. Fantastic, he was hoping it would stay trapped and let them kill it easily.

Mica checked his pistol to make sure it had a magzine in. He got into a rhythm, which was a mixture of lashing out with his whip and firing a shot.

The three of them danced around the trees in the forest, one of them able to fly right through them but the other two having to clamber over, around, or under the forest floor. Chite slipped underneath a particularly large piece of gnarled root just before the voidborn flew right through it, sending debris scattering.

How long had they been fighting? Too long, for his standard. The canopy of trees had thinned due to their long fight, and as Mica bent behind one of the trees to catch his breath, he had noticed more of the sunlight pouring through to the forest below. Mica risked catching a look past his tree. The voidborn was on a thick tree, climbing up it as it looked around. Mica could make out Chite behind a boulder. While neither of them had any scrapes or bruises --they had their auras to thank for that-- Mica could tell Chite was just as exhausted as he. The boy's proper hair was now damp and mixed with twigs and earth, and Mica assumed they both looked as if they were rolling around in the mud for a good minute or two.

A dip in the river wouldn't be too bad. Without the screeching of the voidborn in his ears or the crackling of wood being torn to bits, he could hear the babbling of the river to his right. It seemed they had fought in a large circle, coming back to the area the two first met. Well, the three first met.

It would be nice, cool, and refreshing. They could probably get the slime off, assuming they didn't shock themselves or each other. Mica had once experimented with attuning to shock in his shower. He learned the hard way that yes, one could electrocute themselves. Wait--

Shower. Electrocution. He was a genius. He whipped his head towards Chite. "How do you feel about being the bait this time?"

Chite looked at him like he was crazy. "What's the plan?"

"We're going to electrocute him while he takes a shower. Or at least, I can while you distract him." Mica wore a maniac grin.

Chite's brows furrowed again. "That can work. If you don't electrocute me as well. You can create a Spark strong enough?"

"Probably," Mica held out one of his pistols to Chite. "If I electrocute you, feel free to shoot me. Just make sure ugly's dead first."

Chite nodded and scrambled to his feet. He curved around the boulder and dashed off in the direction of the voidborn. "Hey!" Chite screamed, and the voidborn screamed back in some kind of weird acknowledgement. Mica watched him, primed to make his move as soon as Chite was able to somehow lure the voidborn into the water.

Chite slid under the voidborn's first charge, splashing mud all around him. The voidborn, knowing his tricks this time, spun around almost immediately after it missed and charged again. Chite got back to his feet and dove into the pool of water. The voidborn dove in after him.

Mica sprung forward, scanning the ripples of the water. The agitation... he couldn't see either Chite or the voidborn.

The voidborn surfaced first, its wings struggling to flap through the water. Mica wanted to shoot it, to divert its attention from Chite to him, but before he could the beast dove again, its tail still above water this time, which was jerking around furiously.

Chite surfaced next, close to the waterfall's edge, and he wade through the water. Mica couldn't really do much but watch as the voidborn thrashed around the water, its little legs and large wings not really helping it get out of the water or chase after Chite. Despite that, it gained on him. Mica pinched his tongue between a few fingers to resist the urge to scream at Chite. Bad idea, the slime tasted horrible. He spat it out and sacrificed his element of surprise.

Mica held his remaining pistol into the sky and shot once. The noise got the voidborn's attention and it faltered its pursuit long enough for Chite to reach the rocks. He climbed up one rock, and another. He turned to Mica and shouted something. Mica couldn't hear over the voidborn's outburst in the middle of the lake, but he assumed it was something like "do it, dummy!" in Chite's pretentious voice.

And so he did. He gathered aura in his palm, and put his hand in the water. He put in more than he usually did for a Spark, and he let the water be it's fabulous, conductive self. The voidborn let out another spine-chilling and ear-piercing screech. This one was drawn out before it stopped completely. The Voidborn poofed in the middle of the pond. It just vanished, and the water rushed into where it once was. As the waves calmed down, the voidborn's mask popped out from underneath the water and bobbed along the surface.

Chite, who had been holding onto those rocks probably for dear life, let go and fell into the water. He grabbed the mask and swam to land next to Mica, where he dragged himself ashore. He tossed the mask over next to Mica and collapsed on his back, breathing heavily. "Good idea," he said in between breaths. "You have to... fracture the mask now."

"What, will I turn into a voidborn if I try to wear it?" Mica checked how many bullets he had left. Enough.

"The Voidborn will respawn if you don't destroy the mask," Chite muttered, his eyes closed.

"Yeah, okay. Let's not do this again." Mica aimed down at the mask and fired. The mask shattered into multiple pieces. "Good enough?" The mask answered his question before Chite could as it dissolved. With that, there was nothing left of the voidborn... Just a whole bunch of evidence of its path of destruction.

Chite held up a thumb's up. "You killed your first Voidborn," he said. "First of many."

"Faaaaantastic." He drawled.

"Oh, I got your gun wet." Chite handed him the other pistol.

"What an astute observation, Mr. Erudite." Mica took it, and set it and his dry one on some dry land. Then he went and walked into the water to get himself soaked to the core. This beat heelys on top of people's roofs, any day.